The final death toll is 58 and the dead bodies have been sent to Ahmedabad

Jayanti Ravi, Godhra official

The attack on the train, which was carrying Hindu pilgrims, is being blamed on suspected Muslim militants.

Meanwhile violence has reportedly broken out in the city of Ahmedabad, the commercial capital of Gujarat, as an angry mob moved through the streets burning vehicles and looting shops.

The outnumbered police have been firing shots over the heads of the crowd that has gathered in the centre of the city, witnesses said. Some reports said Muslim shops were being targeted, but it is not yet clear whether the attackers are Hindus or Muslims.

The mob blocked roads with tyres, pulled mattresses, quilts and other goods from stores and started fires in the streets, then burned the shops and at least one truck, witnesses said.

Amid fears of possible retaliation for the train attack, security has been stepped up across India to avert religious clashes, and curfews have been imposed.

Police in Gujurat said three people had been stabbed to death in apparent retaliation for Wednesday's attack at Godhra, a town with a sizeable Muslim minority.

Appealing for calm and an end to religious violence, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has called off his trip to a Commonwealth summit in Australia.

Children killed

The death toll from the attack rose to 58 after all bodies were counted, a senior local official said on Thursday.

"The final death toll is 58 and the dead bodies have been sent to Ahmedabad," Jayanti Ravi, head of the local administration in Godhra, told Reuters news agency.

Vajpayee cancelled his trip to the Commonwealth summit

The train came under a barrage of stones and was then set alight as it pulled out of a station in Godhra. The town has a history of Hindu-Muslim violence.

Several carriages were gutted and some victims were burnt beyond recognition, officials said. Fifteen children were among the dead.

Dozens more passengers were injured and 38 were said to be in critical condition.

The passengers included Hindu activists who are threatening to build a Hindu temple on the site of a mosque in the city of Ayodhya which was torn down in 1992, sparking widespread rioting.