AHMEDABAD, March 16: Three men were killed in fresh clashes as mobs set shops on fire and attacked mosques in Gujarat state, police said on Saturday.

The latest bout of violence started on Friday evening after hardline Hindus held a prayer ceremony near the site of a razed mosque in Ayodhya as a prelude to the building of a temple on the controversial site.

Two Muslims were shot dead overnight in separate incidents when police opened fire to disperse clashing mobs in Dudeshwar and Daryapur areas of Ahmedabad city, police said.

A 20-year-old Hindu man was stabbed to death and his father wounded when they were attacked by unidentified assailants late on Friday as soldiers patrolled the streets and curfew was imposed in three areas, they said.

“Things are under control this morning,” police official C.B. Deshpal told Reuters.

Deshpal said violence was also reported from Bharuch town where mobs damaged minarets of a mosque and groups of angry people pelted stones at each other late on Friday.

In Baroda city, south of Ahmedabad, an indefinite curfew was imposed in six areas and the army patrolled the streets after Friday’s incidents of arson and stone throwing.

Baroda’s police commissioner D.D. Tuteja said the violence was quelled by midnight after police fired in the air and arrested over 100 rioters.

“A small dargah (Muslim shrine) was destroyed and heavy security cover was provided to another mosque which mobs tried to set on fire,” Tuteja told Reuters by telephone.—Reuters