KOCHI, Mar 18 (BBC): Police in India have arrested five people after some international students were assaulted in a university hostel while offering Ramadan prayers.
Officials say a heated argument about the location of the prayers led to the physical attack in Gujarat University in western India on Saturday. Police sources said five students were treated for injuries. India's foreign ministry said that the Gujarat government was taking "strict action" against the perpetrators.
GS Malik, the police commissioner of Ahmedabad city, told reporters that around two dozen people entered the hostel on Saturday night and objected to the students offering prayers, asking them to do so in a mosque.
"They argued over the issue, assaulting them and hurling stones. They also vandalised their rooms," he said, adding that a team had been formed to investigate the case.
Another senior police official, Tarun Duggal, told BBC Gujarati that the names of the five arrested men are Hitesh Mewada, Bharat Patel, Shitij Pandey, Jitendra Patel and Sunil Dudhirua. They have not made any public statement while in police custody. He added that more people may be arrested soon.
Police have not confirmed whether the men are connected to any political or religious organisations.
Reporters from BBC Gujarati who visited the spot on Saturday said that they saw stones and broken vehicles at the scene. Videos circulating online showed a mob raising Hindu religious slogans as they attacked the students, vandalised vehicles and pelted stones.
Three of the injured students have been discharged from hospital while two others are in a stable condition.
Navid Siddique, a student from Afghanistan who was injured in the attack, told the Times of India newspaper that he and other students were offering Taraweeh, a special nightly prayer occurring during Ramadan, when three people entered the hostel and began questioning them.
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