Indian troops quell riots

More than 500 troops were rushed to Kanpur, in northern India, yesterday to quell riots which flared up after a right-wing Hindu politician was murdered, Tim McGirk writes from New Delhi.

A curfew was imposed in more than half of Kanpur, an industrial city of 1.5 million inhabitants in Uttar Pradesh state, often plagued by sectarian violence. Hindu mobs attacked Muslim areas, burning down dozens of shops and homes. The number of dead was put unofficially at six. Police described the city as 'tense but calm'.