Violent riots kill 26 in India

Violent riots have killed 26 people in northern India after Hindu and Muslim groups turned on each other with guns and knives to settle a street brawl, the Daily Mail reported. 

The riots were sparked by the killings of three villagers who had stepped in to defend a young woman being harrassed in Kawal, Uttar Pradesh state last week.

Anger has brewed in the area since the incident, but the violence turned deadly on Sunday when a journalist, a police photographer and several villagers died as a result of the violence.

Over two dozen people died from their injuries received during Saturday's clashes in Muzaffarnagar district, after which the violence spread to several neighbouring villages.

The Government has responded by deploying hundreds of troops to quell the riots and search the area for weapons, while a state of high alert has been declared for Uttar Pradesh, an area home to 200 million people.

'A curfew has been imposed in three riot-hit areas of Muzaffarnagar,' said the head of the state's home ministry, R.M. Srivastava.

'The situation is still very tense, but under control.'