About 100 commandos stormed the 23-acre temple complex last Tuesday evening, after gunfire and explosions were heard about 5pm. Then, in an operation lasting all night, commandos slowly closed in on the two gunmen, finally shooting them dead at dawn on Wednesday. One commando was killed in the assault and two policemen also died later of their injuries. The temple is owned by India's wealthiest sect, the Swaminarayan.

As news of the attack spread, hundreds of Muslims - many of whom had only recently returned to their homes - began arriving back at relief camps seeking protection against possible reprisals.

The attack comes as Gujarat struggles to come to terms with the loss of life seen after Godhra. More than 1000 people - mostly Muslims killed by Hindu mobs - died in the violence. It also puts the plight of Gujarat's persecuted minority back in the spotlight. After the killings, Chief Minister Modi - the ruling right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) man in Gujarat - dissolved the state assembly and called early elections. Critics accused him of trying to take advantage of the Hindu nationalist feeling, generated by the bloodshed.

So far, however, Modi's electoral plans have been thwarted by the head of the Election Commission, JM Lyngdoh, a once faceless bureaucrat, now considered a hero by the Muslim community. Lyngdoh blocked early elections after visiting the state in August to test Modi's claim that the situation was 'normal' and that those who fled their homes during the violence had not been effectively disenfranchised.

But long lists of missing voters and crowds of destitute Muslims who turned up to see Lyngdoh told another story.