AHMEDABAD, India -- A Muslim man was killed and three people were injured when police fired to disperse clashes between Hindus and Muslims in India's riot-racked western state of Gujarat, police said on Sunday.

The clashes, which occurred late on Saturday, were the first in nearly a month in the state, which is still nursing bruises from India's worst religious bloodshed in a decade.

Nearly 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, have been killed since late February, according to state government figures. Human rights groups put the toll at over 2,500.

A state police official told Reuters police were investigating the cause of Saturday's clashes in Choteudaipur town, 150km (95 miles) southeast of Ahmedabad, Gujarat's main city.

He said rioting youths torched several shops in the town, forcing police to fire at them and impose an indefinite curfew.

"There have been no untoward developments after the imposition of the curfew," the official said.

Hindu-Muslim clashes erupted in Gujarat in late February after a Muslim mob set fire to a train, killing 59 Hindu activists and triggering massive reprisals across the state. Sporadic clashes have occurred since then.

Muslim leaders in the state have said they fear renewed tensions next week during Hindu religious processions, which are expected to draw thousands of devotees and have sparked Hindu-Muslim clashes in the past.