GANDHINAGAR, Sept 24: Thirty people were killed and over 70 injured when gunmen stormed a temple in Gujarat on Tuesday.

At least 100 people were feared trapped inside with the unidentified gunmen who stormed the Akshardham Temple in Gandhinagar late in the night.

Indian Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani blamed “the enemies of the country” for the attack and said four children and six women were among the dead.

Police said the raid had stoked fears of fresh communal violence, particularly in Gujarat’s commercial capital of Ahmedabad.

“There is tension and fear in Ahmedabad. People are scared that something could happen at night,” a police official said.

Officials said the gunmen had entered the temple complex around 4.30pm (5pm PST).

“I am fortunate to be alive today,” said 16-year-old Priti Nahata, who hid along with a group of other people in a room until the police came and told them it was safe to leave.

Bloodstained bodies could be seen from the gates being carried out of the temple on stretchers.

Another white-haired man lying on a stretcher, his legs dangling, stared in shock, his arms across his chest, his white undershirt and brown pants splattered with blood.

Hundreds of anxious relatives gathered at the main gates of the temple, as Indian rescue and security forces rushed to the area and pulled out the dead and injured on stretchers.

“I heard a loud noise and gunshots. I didn’t know what was happening. Then we were told by the temple trustees to get inside a room,” said survivor Gurumukh Palwani, 40.

“There are three militants armed with automatic weapons. The militants are still inside the temple,” a police spokesman said.

A loud explosion was heard inside the temple complex in the early evening, but there were conflicting reports on whether or not the gunmen had seized any hostages.

KASHMIR LINK: India’s Deputy Prime Minister said that according to initial information, the gunmen, armed with AK-47s and grenades, drove up to the temple complex in a car, jumped a fence and shot dead a woman nearby.

“They next shot dead a temple volunteer and then started hurling grenades,” Advani quoted a monk as saying.

Without naming Pakistan, he implicitly pointed a finger at Islamabad by saying that “the enemies of the country” were using the attack to shift attention from elections in occupied Kashmir.—Reuters