AP News, August 29th, 2007
Police imposed a curfew Wednesday in parts of the northern Indian city of Agra that is home to the Taj Mahal and advised tourists and residents to stay indoors after rioting that followed a fatal truck accident, officials said.
All schools and colleges in Agra have also been closed for the next three days, local government spokesman J.N. Chamber said, adding that the rioting _ sparked by the deaths of four men hit by a truck _ was now under control.
One person was shot to death and 10 people _ six police and four firefighters _ were injured in the unrest, he said. Angry mobs had blocked roads and set fire to about 20 vehicles.
The Taj Mahal lies outside of the curfew zone and was open to tourists, but one of its two gates was closed, said Udai Ram, a local government official.
Angry residents in the Nai Mandi area of the city went "berserk" after a speeding truck killed four people, said Vikram Singh, the director-general of police in Lucknow, the state capital of Uttar Pradesh.
The victims, all Muslims, were walking home after a religious festival, Singh said.
The mob torched 20 vehicles including 10 trucks, threw stones at riot police and blocked the highway connecting Agra with New Delhi, about 130 miles to the northwest, Singh said.
The Nai Mandi neighborhood of Agra is home to both Hindus and Muslims and the two communities have often clashed, but Chamber said the rioting was not sectarian.
The white-marble Taj Mahal is a monument built by the Mogul Emperor Shah Jahan between 1632 and 1654 for his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal.
