Gandhinagar, India ? Commandos stormed a Hindu temple today and killed two attackers who had fatally shot 30 people and took dozens hostage in a raid that raised fears of new Hindu-Muslim rioting, officials said.

The end of the 14-hour siege at the sprawling temple complex came after gunmen eluded the National Security Guard commandos for nearly 14 hours, returning fire and lobbing grenades, said K.N. Nityanand, the top security official of western Gujarat state.

Indian paramilitary forces surround a temple after a militant attack in Gandhinagar, India, near Ahmadabad. Gunmen stormed the crowded Hindu temple Tuesday and opened fire, killing at least 23 and wounding 40.

Two police officers and one commando of the National Security Guard were killed during the operation, Nityanand said.

Nityanand dismissed news reports that said there were three attackers, saying there were only two inside the complex. He said the television reports may have mistaken the slain commando for a third attacker.

The attackers raided the temple as the faithful were praying Tuesday evening. Witnesses said they leaped out of a car, jumped a fence to enter the temple complex and then sprayed gunfire. Hundreds of commandos quickly swarmed into the compound and set up positions, said R.B. Brahmabhatt, the city’s acting police chief.

Earlier, bloody bodies were carried away on stretchers and many wounded limped out, their clothes stained with blood. About 45 people were wounded in the initial attack.

A senior police official inside the complex, speaking late Tuesday on his mobile phone, said between 40 and 50 people had been taken hostage.

Deputy Prime Minister Lal K. Advani, speaking to reporters in New Delhi, described the shooting as a suicide attack. He said the attackers, armed with hand grenades and AK-47 rifles, had taken up positions on the roof of a building inside the complex.

Hospital officials said 30 people were dead, including at least six women and four children. The wounded included five police officers who were hit by bullets.

Advani said the attack appeared tied to state elections being held Tuesday in northern Jammu-Kashmir state, the only majority Muslim state in largely Hindu India.

“The enemies of the nation feel that the developments in Jammu and Kashmir are strengthening India’s viewpoint and that a big attack could divert attention from there. I see in this a very deliberate design,” he said.

He did not elaborate. India alleges that its neighbor, Pakistan, sponsors Muslim terrorists in Indian territory. Islamabad denies it.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said: “We’re shocked by this horrific act. We condemn the senseless violence.”

While no group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, and government officials were careful not to make accusations, fears spread across western Gujarat state that Islamic rebels would be blamed which could set off anti-Muslim mob violence and spiral into widespread sectarian unrest.

“This is adding kerosene to a burning fire. There will be trouble in the riot-prone areas,” said Maya Desai, a college student in Ahmadabad, about 15 miles from the attack site.