Gunmen Storm Disputed Religious Site in India

Security forces have been put on nationwide alert in India to prevent sectarian violence after five gunmen and a suicide bomber were killed trying to storm a sealed religious site claimed by both Hindus and Muslims in north India.

The unidentified attackers raided the complex, home to a temporary temple to the Hindu god-king Ram, which was built over a 16th-century mosque called the Babri Masjid. The mosque in Ayodhya was demolished by a Hindu mob in 1992, sparking religious violence across India in which 3,000 people died.

Most cities remained calm yesterday but some Hindu nationalists took to the streets to burn the flag of Pakistan, whom Delhi has accused in the past accused of nurturing Islamist sentiment.

Television showed yesterday how close the gunmen had come to causing serious damage to the spot where Ram was supposed to have been born. Footage showed the charred shell of the jeep, with its top and back missing, next to the complex.

Police said at least five gunmen blew up a security wall with a car bomb and stormed into the usually heavily guarded Hindu complex. Police said one attacker was likely to have had explosives strapped to his waist.

The assault at 9am yesterday set off a two-hour shootout with security forces. "In the ensuing gunbattle, six of them were killed," said Jyoti Sinha, director general of the central reserve police force.

Police found three AK47 assault rifles, a carbine and three hand grenades. The driver of the taxi hired by the gunmen died in the shootout. Three policemen were hurt.

The Hindu nationalists, the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP), which rose to prominence after the Babri mosque was destroyed, called for protests.

"It's not a symbolic attack but a very serious attack," said the BJP chief, Lal Krishna Advani, who led the campaign for a Ram temple in Ayodhya. "The reaction to this attack should be proportionate."

The Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, branded the attack a "terrorist act". Pakistan said it was against "terrorism in all forms". Both countries seemed determined not to let violence derail peace talks.

Analysts said blaming Pakistan was a "temptation" especially as the Hindu right, floundering since losing power last year, was looking for an issue around which to coalesce.

Some said they had warned of security lapses in Ayodhya months ago.

What happens to the disputed site remains unresolved. Hindu nationalists have called for a "glorious" temple to be "rebuilt" while Muslim groups have put their faith in a tortuous legal case wending its way through the high court.