HYDERABAD, India: Rioters in southern India killed six members of a Muslim family by setting fire to their home after earlier clashes between Hindus and Muslims left four others dead and 15 injured in the same village, officials said Sunday.
Tensions have been high in the village of Vatoli since Friday, when violence and looting erupted between the two sides, leading to four deaths, said K. Jana Reddy, home minister of the state of Andhra Pradesh.
Authorities imposed a curfew Friday but were unable to stop the deadly arson attack, which apparently occurred before dawn Sunday, Reddy said.
"It is a beastly and barbaric act," Reddy said Sunday. "Police are investigating the case and we will catch the culprits."
Three children, including a 2-year-old, were among the six burned to death, he said.
Vatoli is in Adilabad district, 170 miles, or 275 kilometers, north of the state capital of Hyderabad.
Muslim leaders called for better protection for minorities, especially in rural areas.
"Despite our repeated pleas and appeals, the government has failed to provide protection to the Muslims who live in remote areas and who have a very small population in those places," said Asaduddin Owaisi, a member of the lower house of the national Parliament.
Relations between Hindus and Muslims have been largely peaceful since the bloody partition of the subcontinent into India and Pakistan upon independence from Britain in 1947. But mistrust runs deep and there are sporadic bouts of violence.
The worst violence in recent years was in 2002 in the western state of Gujarat. More than 1,000 people, most of them Muslims, were killed by Hindu mobs after a train fire killed 60 Hindus returning from a pilgrimage. Muslims were blamed for the fire.
A series of blasts have hit India in recent months, and authorities have blamed Muslim militants in nearly all the attacks.
India's Muslims, who account for about 14 percent of the country's population of 1.1 billion, lag far behind the Hindu majority in most social indicators, from literacy to household incomes.
Tensions have been high in the village of Vatoli since Friday, when violence and looting erupted between the two sides, leading to four deaths, said K. Jana Reddy, home minister of the state of Andhra Pradesh.
Authorities imposed a curfew Friday but were unable to stop the deadly arson attack, which apparently occurred before dawn Sunday, Reddy said.
"It is a beastly and barbaric act," Reddy said Sunday. "Police are investigating the case and we will catch the culprits."
Three children, including a 2-year-old, were among the six burned to death, he said.
Vatoli is in Adilabad district, 170 miles, or 275 kilometers, north of the state capital of Hyderabad.
Muslim leaders called for better protection for minorities, especially in rural areas.
"Despite our repeated pleas and appeals, the government has failed to provide protection to the Muslims who live in remote areas and who have a very small population in those places," said Asaduddin Owaisi, a member of the lower house of the national Parliament.
Relations between Hindus and Muslims have been largely peaceful since the bloody partition of the subcontinent into India and Pakistan upon independence from Britain in 1947. But mistrust runs deep and there are sporadic bouts of violence.
The worst violence in recent years was in 2002 in the western state of Gujarat. More than 1,000 people, most of them Muslims, were killed by Hindu mobs after a train fire killed 60 Hindus returning from a pilgrimage. Muslims were blamed for the fire.
A series of blasts have hit India in recent months, and authorities have blamed Muslim militants in nearly all the attacks.
India's Muslims, who account for about 14 percent of the country's population of 1.1 billion, lag far behind the Hindu majority in most social indicators, from literacy to household incomes.
