Gujarat rioters accused

The violence has left hundreds dead

Police in the western Indian state of Gujarat have charged 48 people over communal violence last February in which about 120 people were killed.

Twenty-three are accused of leading a riot in the state's main city, Ahmedabad, in which more than 80 people died. Many Muslim women were raped and large numbers of victims burned alive.

Warrants for the arrest of another 21 suspects have also been issued.

And 25 people have been charged over a separate incident on the same day in Ahmedabad when about 40 people were killed.

More than 900 people, mostly Muslims, have died since February in communal violence in Gujarat.

Gujarat state's Hindu Nationalist government has been under intense pressure to act against those who spearheaded the riots.

The violence began after 58 Hindu activists were burned to death on a train on 27 February while they were returning from a pilgrimage to the northern Indian town of Ayodhya.