Christians were also targeted in riots

NEW DELHI, India -- A leading Christian group on Wednesday called for a ban on Hindu extremist groups, saying they had also targeted Christians during last week's religious violence in Gujarat state that left more than 600 people dead, mostly Muslims.

The All India Christian Council said in a statement that the Hindu groups have "engaged in a constant hate campaign against the minorities" and are training hundreds of thousands of people in armed warfare.

The council said it would ask the U.N. High Commission on Human Rights and other international bodies to investigate the activities and funding of the World Hindu Council and its affiliates.

The World Hindu Council has branches worldwide and is supported by donations from Hindu expatriates.

Christians comprise 2 percent of India's 1 billion people while Muslims are 12 percent. Hindus are more than 80 percent.

The Christian council's secretary-general John Dayal said members of the World Hindu Council and other groups burned down a Catholic mission in Sanjeli village, attacking two priests with stones, and that a Hindu mob ransacked a missionary school near Godhra.

The account could not immediately be independently confirmed.

Opposition parties and Muslim groups have already demanded a ban on the World Hindu Council and other hard-line groups.

The hard-liners are accused of encouraging riots that killed hundreds of Muslims over six days in Gujarat state. The riots followed a Feb. 26 attack by a Muslim mob on a train carrying Hindu activists back from the town of Ayodhya, where the World Hindu Council wants to build a temple on a site of a razed 16th century mosque.

Fifty-eight people were killed in the train and 544 in the subsequent riots. Violence subsided on Tuesday and no fresh incidents were reported Wednesday.

Burial duty

On Wednesday, Muslim volunteers performed a mass burial for the unclaimed bodies of 186 Muslims, including a six-month-old girl, in Ahmadabad, the largest city in Gujarat and the worst hit in the violence.

Fighting back tears, volunteers wrapped white sheets around the bodies and placed a white lotus on the shrouds before lowering them in the freshly dug graces. Four Muslim priests recited verses from the Quran.

"The people who killed the train passengers were not human beings and cannot belong to any community, any religion or any group," said Ataullah Khan, a Muslim volunteer who runs a transport business in Ahmadabad. "But the people who caused hundreds of deaths in this city are also not human beings. There is no need for revenge."

Meanwhile, a Muslim legislator in India's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh was shot and killed by a Hindu gunman during a political rally Wednesday. Police said the slaying was unrelated to the religious rioting in western India.

Manzoor Ahamad of the Samajwadi Party was shot while he was standing in a large crowd of party workers outside the governor's house in the state capital of Lucknow, police said.

The gunman, identified as Abhishek Bhardwaj, was immediately grabbed by the crowd and beaten before being handed over to police.

Police are still trying to establish his motive.