Kerala Chief Minister A K Antony and other political leaders will travel to the violence-hit Marad village near Kozhikode on Sunday to broker truce between Hindus and Muslims.

In a statement on Saturday, the chief minister termed the Friday night's violence, in which nine people were killed and 20 injured, as 'brutal'.

"All sections of the society should come forward to maintain law and order in the state in the interest of the public," Antony said.

The violence was a sequel to the flare-up in Marad in January last year, when five people were killed, police said.

Police officials said they had arrested at least 50 people for the renewed violence in Marad, which used to be a peace-loving fishing hamlet.

Last year's clashes had led to widespread burning of houses and country boats and most men in the village were sent to jail. Relief operations in the village were allegedly conducted on communal lines. Hindu and Muslim fishermen had stopped going to sea with each other.

Though political and religious leaders had joined hands to carry out a series of meetings in Marad in the last one year, it had very little effect.

Hindu and Muslim leaders on Saturday traded charges as Antony appealed for calm.

Bharatiya Janata Party national executive member P S Sreedharan Pillai alleged that the killings were due to the government's 'pro-Muslim agenda in Kerala'. "The fresh outbreak of violence in Marad is the handiwork of Muslim extremists who are being protected by the Antony government," Pillai told rediff.com

Pillai, who recently assumed charge as the BJP state unit president, said the government has given a free hand to Muslim extremists to implement their agenda in the state.

But Indian Union of Muslim League state president Panakkad Muhammedali Shihab Thangal urged all the political parties to strive for peace. "This is not the time for accusing any particular community for the state of communal affairs in Marad. All the religious and political leaders should come together to end this brutality of violence," Thangal told rediff.com

Meanwhile, the BJP and other Sangh Parivar groups held a dawn-to-dusk hartal across Kerala to protest against the killings.

Incidents of stone throwing and torching of vehicles, forcible closure of a bank and a few business firms were reported in some parts. Two lorries were set ablaze at Koyilandi in Kozhikode.

The police found 17 gelatine bombs, about 50 sharp-edged weapons and a few swords from a place of worship during raids at Marad.

Shops were closed and buses were off the roads.

The situation in Marad and surrounding areas, where the hartal was total, was tense but under control, the police said.

According to the state BJP headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram, Union Minister of State for Home, I D Swamy, will visit the trouble-hit area on Monday.

With inputs from the Press Trust of India