World | India
Angry Hindu mobs set fire to churches in east India to protest murder of leader
Angry Hindu protestors set fire to several churches in east India on Monday in response to the murder of a religious leader, worsening violence between Hindus and Christians in the region.
- Agencies
- Published: 14:17 August 25, 2008
Bhubaneswar: Angry Hindu protestors set fire to several churches in east India on Monday in response to the murder of a religious leader, worsening violence between Hindus and Christians in the region.
Police said four churches were attacked, vehicles damaged and a police post was ransacked, but no one was hurt.
Suspected Hindi hardliners also set fire to an orphanage in Khuntapali, killing a 21-year-old teacher and injuring a priest, police said.
"It was sporadic," Orissa police chief Gopal Chandra Nanda said. "Some prayer houses have been attacked and vehicles have been burnt."
At least eight houses belonging to Christians and a missionary school in Kandhamal were also set alight, police said.
Hindu activists blocked roads with burning tyres and squatted on railway lines in parts of Orissa to enforce a 12-hour shutdown called by Hindu groups to protest the killings of an elderly Hindu leader and four others last week.
Christians in eastern India condemned the killing of the Hindu leader.
"We pray for the restoration of peace and tranquility and brotherhood in this state," said Asit Kumar Mohanty of the Global Council of Indian Christians.
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