Indian police rushed security forces to a northern town where a clash between Hindu and Muslim groups left one person dead and three others injured during India's National Day celebrations, police said Saturday.
Uttar Pradesh state police spokesman Rahul Srivastava said the two groups shot guns and attacked each other with rocks on Friday in Kasganj, a small town in the state. The town is nearly 340 kilometers (210 miles) northwest of Lucknow, the state capital.
The rioting erupted as members of some hard-line Hindu groups marched through a Muslim-dominated area of the small town. Police closed schools on Saturday and banned the assembly of more than five people in the town.
But a fresh round of violence briefly hit the town on Saturday after the funeral of the 16-year-old who was killed the day earlier.
A group of people damaged and set fire to at least three shops and one bus before police dispersed them, the state police said. Nine people were arrested for rioting, police said.
Muslims comprise nearly 14 percent of India's nearly 1.3 billion people. The two communities largely live peacefully, but simmering tensions lead to clashes at times.
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