20 years of Gujarat riots: A lookback in pictures

In what could be called as the worst bloodbath in the history of independent India, Gujarat witnessed intense communal riots, which began on February 28, 2002, leaving over a thousand dead, 2,500 injured, and roughly 1,50,000 people displaced in the ensuing weeks. The three-day rioting was triggered by the burning of a train in Godhra, on February 27, which caused the deaths of 58 Hindu pilgrims returning from Ayodhya. Following the initial riots, there were further outbreaks of violence in the state for three months. . In the massacre of Naroda Patiya, over 90 people were killed followed by the Gulbarg Society massacre, where a mob of 400 people killed the residents. As the nation remembers the tragedy 20 years later, here's the story of the Gujarat riots in pictures. All pics/ AFP