Violence escalates in India

Indian troops have been given 'shoot-to-kill' orders if they see rioters

AHMEDABAD, India (CNN) -- Fresh religious violence has flared in western India as Hindu mobs stalked and burned Muslims in their homes, pushing the death toll from separatist attacks in the past week towards 300.

The violence -- India's worst religious strife in more than a decade -- has been largely confined to the state of Gujarat where further security reinforcements have been sent.

In the latest reports from Gujarat, Hindus in a remote mainly Muslim village burnt alive at least 25 people and torched homes and businesses.

The attack followed other clashes on Friday throughout the state, particularly in the commercial hub of Ahmedabad -- a city of 3.5 million

The uprising began Wednesday when a large group, believed to be organized Muslims, fire-bombed a train carrying Hindu activists near Godhra, police said.

The activists were returning from a demonstration in the central Indian town of Ayodhya, where they were demanding the Indian government build a Hindu temple on the ruins of a Muslim mosque destroyed by Hindus nearly a decade ago.

Authorities said the Hindu activists had gotten into an altercation with a group of Muslims earlier that day.

'Shoot-to-kill'

VIDEO CNN's Satinder Bindra reports on a town ripped apart by Hindus firebombing and killing Muslims after a train carrying Hindu activists was set on fire. Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)   AUDIO CNN's Satinder Bindra reports from New Delhi on fears of escalating violence 1.16 MB / 1min. 50secs. WAV sound   FOCUS • Ayodhya: India's religious flashpoint  • India temple town on edge    RESOURCES Gallery: Hindu-Muslim violence flares up  Gallery: Godhra train fire     CNN.com Asia More news from our Asia edition

In retaliation for the attack, Hindu rioters began torching Muslim homes and Muslim-owned shops throughout the state.

Thousands of Indian troops are patrolling the streets in Gujarat in an effort to quell the violence with orders to 'shoot-to-kill' rioters on sight.

Indian police said on Saturday that there were no new major clashes overnight, apart from sporadic incidents of stone throwing and torching.

On Friday, police and security forces opened fire on Hindu mobs that attacked and looted Muslims with swords and sticks. Both sides have been engaging each other in pitched battles using stones, swords and whatever other weapons that can be found.

Thousands of people have been arrested, officials said and hundreds of ammunition rounds fired by security forces.

But many are complaining that the government has been slow to react and that police have failed to break up some of the larger clashes in the past two days.

War zone

A curfew has been declared in more than half of Gujarat's 25 districts.

Late Friday, Ahmedabad resembled a war zone, debris littered streets and many homes businesses and religious sites blackened or destroyed by fire.

Several survivors in Ahmedabad told of gruesome circumstances in which they said they were attacked by large mobs with firebombs, then with sticks, swords, and knives, according to CNN's Satinder Bindra.

One man said five members of his family were killed in the violence.

The first major indication that a truce may be achievable did arrive later Friday, with a hardline Indian Hindu group offering to delay its plan to build a controversial temple, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) said it would put off the move to start building the temple on a site sacred to Hindus and Muslims from March 15 if the government allowed it to erect two holy pillars destined for the temple on nearby land for devotees to worship, PTI reported.

Call for calm

Looters take what they can from shops in Ahmedabad

Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has canceled a trip to Australia to monitor the situation from New Delhi.

He has appealed to Hindu activists to call off their campaign.

The government banned any activity on the site of the Ayodhya mosque, saying it would take stern action against anyone found violating court orders.

The Ayodhya mosque -- believed to be built on the site where the Hindu god, Ram, was born -- was destroyed by Hindu mobs in 1992. The act sparked nationwide riots and has been blamed for thousands of deaths.

About 12 percent of Hindu-majority India's more than one billion people are Muslim.

While the country is officially secular, religious tensions constantly strain its social peace.

-- CNN New Delhi Bureau Chief Satinder Bindra contributed to this report