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Muslims flats ransacked in Ahmedabad

AHMEDABAD: A mob ransacked and burned part of a residential building housing Muslims in a suburb of the western Indian city of Ahmedabad but no one was injured, police said on Sunday.

Ahmedabad is the main city in Gujarat state.

"A mob of about 35 people went to this building yesterday evening (Saturday) they burnt the elevator and broke furniture of the two flats which belonged to Muslims," P.C.Pandey, Ahmedabad police commissioner, told Reuters.

Only two of the eight apartments in the building were occupied but Pandey said no one was injured because there was no one in the building at the time of the attack.

Local police set up checkpoints and increased patrolling in the area. No arrests had been made and police had not been able to identify the attackers.

Gujarat was hit by anti-Christian violence early in 1999 which missionaries said was the handiwork of right-wing Hindu organisations. Hindu leaders blamed unrest in tribal areas on forced mass conversions.-Reuters