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AHMEDABAD, India, Nov 7 (Reuters) - Six people were wounded in clashes between Hindus and Muslims early on Thursday in India's riot-scarred western Gujarat state, hours before Muslims began the holy fasting month of Ramadan, police said.

Police are on high alert in Gujarat to prevent a recurrence of violence early this year in which more than 1,000 people died.

Thursday's violence broke out in the old quarter of Gujarat's largest city, Ahmedabad, after Muslims objected to the setting off of firecrackers by Hindus marking Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, a senior police official said.

"The row led to people throwing stones and setting fire to shops and houses in the area before police calmed things by opening fire," the official said. Five of the wounded were hurt in the clashes. A sixth was hurt when police opened fire.

"It's peaceful now. But with Muslims beginning Ramadan today, police are on high alert," he added.

Ramadan is the holiest month of the Islamic lunar calendar when Muslims focus on good works and devotion and fast during daylight hours. The start of Ramadan depends on the sighting of the moon and began in India on Thursday. In many parts of the world, it started on Wednesday.

Muslims in India plan special prayers during Ramadan to remember those killed in the country's worst religious violence in a decade in February and March.

More than 1,000 people, most of them Muslims, died in revenge killings after 58 Hindus were burnt to death in a train by a Muslim mob. Human rights groups estimate the death toll from the carnage at 2,500.

"Ramadan will be a special occasion to remember them in a special way," Mufti Shabbir Ahmed Siddiqui, priest of the biggest mosque in Ahmedabad, said on Wednesday.

"The message of Ramadan is clear: use the fast to break the evils of anger and hatred within you," he said. "Once you break these, love for one's neighbour and country will...overtake you."

Police will be posted at mosques in Gujarat throughout Ramadan to maintain the fragile peace in the state, which holds controversial elections next month.

India's independent election commission had earlier blocked plans by Gujarat's ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to hold early elections, saying the state had not recovered from the violence.

Critics said the BJP, which also leads the federal coalition, was seeking to exploit deep religious divides in Gujarat to return to power.

Mainly Hindu India, which has more than one billion people, is also home to one of the world's largest Muslim populations. 

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