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Indian police end raid on religious site, 5 killed

Posted on: Tuesday, 5 July 2005, 07:07 CDT

By Sharat Pradhan

LUCKNOW, India (Reuters) - Indian security forces killedfive gunmen who attacked a religious site in northern India onTuesday that is claimed by both Hindus and Muslims and is aflashpoint for bloody sectarian strife.

The unidentified gunmen raided a complex which houses amakeshift temple to Hindu God-king Ram which was built over a16th-century mosque torn down by a Hindu mob in 1992.

Tensions over the site in the town of Ayodhya have causedwidespread sectarian riots in the past.

Security forces were ordered on alert across the country toprevent any fresh trouble after Tuesday's raid, TV reported.

"We have killed five of them and recovered four AK-47rifles," a district official told Reuters by phone fromAyodhya, about 600 km (375 miles) southeast of New Delhi. "Theterrorists also threw some grenades but they did not explode."

He said the men scaled the heavily guarded rear wall of thecomplex after arriving there in a vehicle. Police had arrestedthe driver of the vehicle, the official said.

Hardline Hindu groups say the mosque was built by Islamicinvaders on the spot where they believe Ram was born thousandsof years ago.

The demolition of the mosque triggered nationwide riots inwhich 3,000 people died, the worst religious clashes since thebloodletting that followed independence and partition ofBritish colonial India into Hindu-majority India and IslamicPakistan in 1947.

However, Ayodhya, an ancient town of hundreds of templesand narrow, winding streets infested with monkeys, has itselfbeen largely peaceful since the 1992 turmoil.

Reports of the attack hurt Indian shares, which fell as faras 7,249.55 points after hitting a record high of 7,308.72 inearly trade. The main Bombay index later recovered and was up0.18 percent at 7290.71 points 0635 GMT.

Source: REUTERS

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