Riots after India mosque survey claim two lives

LUCKNOW:

Indian Muslim protesters clashed with police Sunday with at least two people killed in riots sparked by a survey investigating if a 17th-century mosque was built on a Hindu temple.

"Two persons were confirmed dead," Pawan Kumar, a police officer in Sambhal in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, told AFP, adding that 16 police officers were "seriously injured" during the clashes.

The Press Trust of India news agency quoted officials saying three people had died.

Hindu activist groups have laid claim to several mosques they say were built over Hindu temples during the Muslim Mughal empire centuries ago.

Street battles broke out when a team of surveyors entered the Shahi Jama Masjid in Sambhal on orders from a local court, after a petition from a Hindu priest claiming it was built on the site of a Hindu temple.

Protesters on Sunday hurled rocks at police, who fired tear gas canisters to clear the crowd,