Ahmadabad, India ? Angry Hindus set fire to homes Thursday in a Muslim neighborhood and then kept firefighters away for hours, dragging out one former lawmaker and burning him alive. At least 58 people died in revenge attacks triggered by a Muslim assault on a train.

Police in western Gujarat state appeared outnumbered or unwilling to act to quell what appeared to be the worst rioting to hit the country in nearly a decade.

The officers stood in bunches, watching as groups of Hindus, wielding iron rods and cans of gasoline or kerosene, roamed Ahmadabad attacking Muslims in their homes, shops and vehicles.

The government promised to send the army to Ahmadabad, the region’s main city, to end the rampage. But there were fears the violence would spread today, when Hindu nationalists called for a nationwide strike.

In Thursday’s worst attack, 38 people including 12 children died when some 2,000 Hindus set fire to six homes in a Muslim neighborhood.

The violence was in retaliation for an attack Wednesday in Godhra, a town south of Ahmadabad, where Muslims set fire to a train carrying Hindu nationalists, killing 58 people, including 14 children.

Tensions have been growing between Muslims and Hindu nationalists who have been using the train to go back and forth to Ayodhya.