Ahmedabad, March 31
Seven persons were killed and several injured as fresh violence broke out in Ahmedabad, Mehsana and Anand districts of Gujarat last night bringing more areas under curfew.

Three persons were killed, two in police firing, and 14 injured in labourers-dominated Gomtipur area of Ahmedabad city where mobs went on a rampage setting ablaze houses, firing from private weapons, lobbing crude bombs and pelting stones, the police said today. One person was stabbed to death.

The Army and para-military forces assisted the police which fired 118 rounds to contain the violence in Gomtipur which was placed under curfew at 10.45 pm.

Tension prevailed in Kadi town of Mehsana district where an indefinite curfew was clamped yesterday following fresh violence after a 70-year-old man was killed by a group of people who also indulged in rioting and arson.

In the adjoining village of Adudra, 60 houses were set ablaze by a mob, the police here said adding that at least 500 affected persons were shifted to relief camps.

In Anand district one person was killed in stone throwing and three were injured in police firing in Petlad town. Two persons were killed, one of them in police firing, in Khambat town of the district late after midnight.

In fresh flare-up of violence, members of two communities clashed tonight at curfew-bound Vejalpur locality of Ahmedabad as the Army was called out there while shops were set on fire at another locality of the city.

The police burst teargas shells and followed it up with firing to disperse the clashing groups at Vejalpur, leaving one person injured.

The Army was called out to control violence, police sources said, adding that the situation was tense in the locality on the outskirts of the city.

The violence in Vejalpur set off high tension in adjoining minority-dominated Johapura area, where a large number of people came out on the streets.

Shops were set on fire and stones were hurled as police opened fire at Behrampura area of Ahmedabad this evening.

Reports from Vadodara said the police burst teargas shells and fired 10 rounds in Sheikhpura village of the district to disperse a rioting mob this evening.

The police fired on a stone-pelting mob in Raikhad area of Ahmedabad.

The police opened fire to disperse a crowd indulging in arson at Sheinpur and Narsanda villages. Two policemen were also injured in the police firing.

Meanwhile, Gujarat Finance Minister Nitin Patel today said the allegation by the Opposition that he was involved in the Kadi violence was “politically motivated”.

Meanwhile, the Syndicate of Gujarat University has approved the examiners’ panel for the final examinations of the biggest varsity of the state beginning from April 18 even as the employees’ union made a futile bid to disrupt its meeting called for the purpose.

VADODARA: Security has been tightened in and around the complexes of three petrochemical giants — Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Limited (IPCL), Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and the Gujarat Refinery in the city suburbs following a threat call to blow up the IPCL with RDX.

IPCL sources on Sunday said an anonymous call, threatening that explosives planted in a spare wheel of a four-wheeler would go off any time between 4 pm to 5 pm yesterday, was received by the plant’s Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) office. A combing operation was launched by the CISF and the police in the complex, including the cracker plant. After a four-hour-long search in IPCL, the call proved to be a hoax. The authorities of the IOC and Gujarat Refinery located in close proximity, also conducted similar combing exercises.

NEW DELHI: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi reached here tonight to discuss a rehabilitation package for the riot victims with the central leadership.