He was a senior leader of the anti-Muslim paramilitary Hindu nationalist group, the National Volunteer Force (RSS), and a former state minister.Indian security forces were on red alert as 10,000 angry followers of Mr Pandya gathered outside the hospital in which his corpse lay.The RSS was accused by police and human rights groups of organising the torching of Muslim homes and killing of their residents in communal bloodletting that erupted after Muslims killed 58 Hindus in February last year. Hindu-Muslim violence in the state often increases tensions between India and Pakistan. Gujarat is a Hindu nationalist stronghold governed by Narendra Modi, who won office last year by blaming the state's problems on Pakistan and Muslims.Yesterday, the Indian government accused Pakistan of involvement in the killing of 25 Hindus by anti-India militants in Kashmir. Eleven women and two children were among those who died when a group of armed men burst into the village of Nadi Marg, dragged people out of their homes and opened fire from close range Survivors said the attackers wore Indian police uniforms. "The pattern, methodology and nature of the targets of these acts of terror are all too familiar and therefore the culpability of Pakistan is all too clear," said India's Foreign Ministry. The US and Britain fired off strongly worded statements condemning the slaughter of the villagers.

India vowed to use "strength, determination and resolve" in dealing with Islamabad. Islamabad has denied Indian accusations that it sponsors Kashmiri militant attacks, saying only that it provides moral support to "freedom fighters" intent on ending Indian "occupation". A government spokesman condemned the Nadi Marg killings.After recent signs of easing hostilities, India and Pakistan are once again eyeball-to-eyeball. There have been tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions and regular threats.

A further signal was sent yesterday when both sides test-fired short-range missiles.India fired a Prithvi missile, with a range of 95 miles, from its testing centre in Orissa.Pakistan fired one of its Abdali missiles, with a range of about 132 miles.As night fell, the Himalayas echoed yet again to the sound of Indian and Pakistani forces tradingheavy artillery and mortar fire in Kashmir.Reports said one civilian was killed and 14 were wounded on the Pakistani side of the de facto frontier that divides the region; Indian officials claimed casualties on the Indian side, without giving details.. Hong Kong is to quarantine more than 1,000 people who may have been exposed to the deadly flu­like disease that has already claimed over 50 lives. They are being urged to stay home and must check in regularly with health officials over a 10­day period starting Monday or they could be fined or jailed.Tung said Hong Kong schools, except for universities, will close early for spring break, shutting from Saturday to April 6 as a precaution.Researchers at Hong Kong University said today that their latest tests have identified a new virus from the Coronavirus family, which causes common colds, as the primary cause of SARS. But they said it might combine with a virus from the paramyxovirus family, which includes measles, mumps and canine distemper, that makes the effects worse.One of the researchers, microbiology professor Malik Peiris, said the virus can survive in open air for a few hours and during that time can be transmitted through such contact as handshakes or even to someone pressing an elevator button previously touched by a disease victim.However, the virus can be killed by wiping alcohol on infected areas, Peiris said.. Nato has warned Turkey that proposals for a 20km military buffer zone inside northern Iraq would be acceptable only if there was a genuine humanitarian crisis in the region. Diplomats said United States officials issued the warning at a meeting of Nato ambassadors on Monday.Turkey said it was not planning to increase its contingent in northern Iraq but reserved the right to do so if the position changed. Ankara already has at least 4,000 troops inside northern Iraq, a remnant of its long war against Kurdish separatists.The Turkish government says it would want to increase its presence only if the border was threatened or if there was a repeat of the 1991 refugee influx into Turkey.