20 shops torched on curfew bound Bareilly

Nearly 20 shops were on Saturday torched by mobs in old area of communal strife-hit Bareilly despite curfew being clamped in most of the city even as authorities rushed additional forces and a helicopter to rein in the spiralling violence.

Closure of all the educational institutes has been ordered and government has provided a helicopter to police for aerial monitoring in the trouble-hit areas, official sources said, adding curfew will not be relaxed till the situation normalises.

Defying curfew, members of a community torched around 20 shops in Qutubkhana sabzi mandi, one of the oldest markets in the city, this afternoon, police said, adding fire tenders were rushed to the sites.

Curfew has been clamped in five of the six police stations areas in the city.