India's outrage at temple siege

Indians of all political hues condemned the attack

India's leaders have expressed horror and anger after a bloody siege by suspected Islamic militants at a temple in Gujarat state left more than 30 people dead.

This shows terrorists will not stop at carrying out any kind of violence

Prime Minister Vajpayee

While mainstream parties have been urging restraint, hardliners are demanding tougher measures from the authorities.

Describing the attack as cowardly, President APJ Abdul Kalam said it was intended to destroy the country's secular fabric.

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee called the attack a "well-designed plot", and urged an end to the cycle of violence.

He cut short an official overseas trip to go to the Swaminarayan temple and visit survivors in hospital.

Restraint urged

The leader of India's opposition Congress party, Sonia Gandhi, also visited the temple in the aftermath of the siege.

Religious groups have expressed outrage

"When we heard of the attack, our hearts were filled with sorrow," she said.

"When we came to know it was over, we felt relieved."

Mrs Gandhi said it was paramount that communal harmony was maintained in the face of such incidents.

In Uttar Pradesh, another state with simmering Hindu-Muslim tension, the leader of the Samajwadi Party, Mulayam Singh Yadav, blamed the central government for failing to prevent the attack.

He demanded the resignation of Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani because the temple is in his constituency.

Government 'must act'

Religious communities, too, have condemned the attack.

Security has been tightened since the assault

The All-Indian Christian Council warned against the "designs of divisive religious forces".

The imam of Delhi's Jama Mosque, SA Bukhari, denounced the attack and said Islam did not permit the killing of civilians.

Muslim groups such as the Jamiat-Ulama-i-Hind and the United Muslim Front joined the Congress party in appealing for calm.

But the hardline Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), an ally of Prime Minister Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was less understanding.

It called a countrywide strike.

"If the government does not act in time, people will take the law into their own hands," its General Secretary, Mohan Salekar, said.

The BJP was swift to blame Pakistan for the attack - a charge rejected by Islamabad - but is not supporting the VHP's strike call.

Reaction abroad

Senior Pakistani officials swiftly condemned the attack and rejected Delhi's suggestions that Islamabad may have been behind it.

Information Minister Nisar Memon said: "They are putting the blame where it does not belong."

Foreign ministry spokesman Aziz Ahmed Khan described Indian accusations as "ridiculous" and "baseless". He added: "We have strongly condemned this reprehensible attack because it was mounted on a place of worship."

US President George Bush was among the first world leaders to denounce the attack. He said it was "particularly deadly".

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said religion could never be an excuse or justification for violence.