June 19, 2007	Tuesday	Jamadi-us-Sani 03, 1428

PATNA, June 18: An Indian court convicted 14 Hindus on Monday for killing 116 Muslims and burying their bodies in a cauliflower patch during one of India's bloodiest communal riots nearly 20 years ago.

More than 1,000 people -- most of them Muslims -- were killed in Bhagalpur district, Bihar state, during a month of rioting in 1989.

The 14 men, including a policeman, were part of a mob that hacked to death 116 Muslim men, women and children with swords and daggers on Oct 27 that year.

Six other men accused of taking part in the killings have since died; four others are on the run.

The convicted men are due to be sentenced on June 27.

The Bhagalpur riots were triggered in part by a Hindu procession carrying bricks to build a temple at the site of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya.—Reuters