NEW DELHI, March 17: Two people died in riots on Sunday despite efforts by Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to cool tempers amid opposition pressure over a radical Hindu drive to build a temple on the ruins of a razed mosque.

The government’s efforts to put an end to violence, especially in the western state of Gujarat, the scene of last month’s communal riots that claimed 700 lives, appeared to be failing as Hindus and Muslims clashed in at least two riot-torn cities.

A mob of 500 rioters attacked a Hindu residential city district and burned a printer’s shop and a house, police said, adding that six people were injured in the attack.

In nearby Baroda, two people were stabbed to death in street fighting, forcing police to open fire to break up stone-throwing mobs, officials said.

In Haryana state, Hindu rioters also torched two mosques and nearby shops amid rumours that Muslims had driven a cow into the complex for slaughter. The police dispersed the attackers by firing in the air.

At least two people, believed to be Muslims, were critically injured in the mob violence, the Press Trust of India said.

Cows are revered by Hindus and consumption of its beef is banned by law.

In Gujarat Saturday night, two people were injured when police fired at Hindu and Muslim rioters in the troubled city of Ahmedabad.

“It was again a free-for-all on Sunday but we have intensified patrolling,” a police spokesman said.

Police had rounded up thousands of people across India ahead of the contentious Hindu prayer ritual Friday in Ayodhya to prevent fresh sectarian riots after the Hindu-Muslim clashes that began in Gujarat on Feb 27.

The riots had been sparked when a Muslim mob in Gujarat’s Godhra town attacked a train carrying Hindu activists from the pilgrimage town of Ayodhya.

State police Sunday claimed a breakthrough in the train probe saying they had arrested the alleged kingpin, Haji Bilal, for planning the attack that left 58 people dead.

In Uttar Pradesh state, where Ayodhya is situated, police said the situation was under control.

“We had taken adequate safety precautions across India. The ceremony in Ayodhya itself went off peacefully. Things should return to normal quickly,” said state deputy police chief A.K. Mitra.

But Ashok Singhal, president of the right-wing VHP party, which is spearheading the temple-building drive, said he would fast until security was relaxed around a temple workshop in Ayodhya and activists were allowed safe passage to the pilgrimage town.—AFP