Fresh violence rocks Indian state

Orissa has seen weeks of violence

One person has been killed and several others injured in fresh violence in the eastern Indian state of Orissa, a police official has said.

This comes days after Hindu mobs vandalised a church and dozens of houses in Kandhamal district.

Two group of villagers fought pitched battles in the area on Thursday.

Orissa has seen anti-Christian violence for several weeks. At least 20 people, mostly Christians, were killed after a Hindu religious leader was shot dead.

Hindus groups have long accused Christian priests of bribing poor tribes and low-caste Hindus to convert to Christianity.

Christians say lower-caste Hindus convert willingly to escape the Hindu caste system.

Correspondents say Thursday's violence was caused by ethnic tensions rather than religious reasons.

The majority Kandha tribespeople of the area attacked the minority Hindu untouchable Pana community.

A large number of Hindu untouchables in the district have converted to Christianity in the district in the past few decades.

In the latest violence on Thursday, the man killed by the mob of tribespeople was a Hindu untouchable man.

Surge in violence

There has been a fresh surge in violence in Kandhamal district since Tuesday when one person was killed and two others injured when police opened fire on a mob that attacked a police station in Raikia area.

The mob was demanding the immediate release of two persons arrested in connection with the month-long anti-Christian violence in the district.

Kandhamal police chief S Praveen Kumar said at least 60 houses and four Christian prayer houses were burnt or demolished in the violence that followed the police firing.

He said round the clock curfew had been imposed in some "highly sensitive areas" in the district.

Violence broke out last month after Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati was shot along with four others in an attack in the Kandhamal district.

A senior Maoist leader claimed responsibility for the killing, but Hindu groups accused Christians. Hindu mobs burnt down monasteries, churches and an orphanage.

There has also been anti-Christian violence in the southern state of Karnataka.

More than 20 churches and prayer halls have been vandalised by Hindu hard-line groups in the state.