Nine killed in northern India as drunken truck slams into crowd

A speeding truck swerved off a road and hit a group of women on the sidewalk, killing nine of them and injuring six others in northern India, police said Thursday.

Around 20 women and girls were walking toward a mosque for evening prayers Wednesday when the truck ran onto the sidewalk and ran over them, said Surendra Srivastava, a police spokesman.

Six women were killed instantly while three others died later in the state-run hospital in Aurriya town in Uttar Pradesh state, he said.

Six other women and girls were injured in the accident and were in hospital in Aurriya, 200 kilometers (140 miles) west of Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh. Doctors said two of the women had serious injuries, the police official said.

The driver of the truck was suspected of being drunk and has been arrested, the AP reports.