"*WHATSAPP'S -INDIAN- WHAMINGS *"

Students/Child kidnap rumors spark five more Indian mob attacks : And Indian police urged people Wednesday not to believe false rumors on WhatsApp after five fresh attacks by crazed mobs left one woman dead and a dozen hurt.

The assault in the  western state of Gujarat, sparked by talk of hundreds of child kidnappers on the loose, are just the latest in a string of similar recent episodes in at ;east five Indian states.

The destitute woman who was killed, named as Shantadevi Nath, was with three others set upon by around 100 people  in the Vadaj area of Ahmedabad, Gujarat's biggest city,  on Tuesdaay evening  police official JA Rathwa told AFP.

''First half a dozen people surrounded the women as they were about to board an autorickshaw and started questioning them. Soon the crowd swelled and pulled  Shantadevi and her companions out of the rickshaw and started thrashing them,'' he said.

''People in the crowd rained punches and kicked the four women. Some even hit them with sticks and pulled then by their hair, which resulted in severe injuries to Shantadevi, while the three others sustained minor injuries.''

The women were finally rescued by local traffic policemen and taken to hospital but Nath, 45, was declared  deal on arrival.

The same viral message spread on  smartphone  messaging service  WhatsApp, warning that 300 people had descended on Gujarat looking to abduct and sell  children/students, appeared to have triggered four other mob attacks in the state the same day.

Six people were injured in two separate incidents in Rajkot, 223 kilometres [140 miles] from Ahmedabad, including a family of five visiting from a neighboring western state of Maharashtra to discuss a relative's marriage prospects.

They were rescued from the violent crowd by local police and escaped with only minor injuries.

And a 45-year woman was assaulted after locals suspected that she had kidnapped a baby girl   -in fact her daughter - with her.