Suspected Maoists kill 5 Hindus in rural Indian village

Bhubaneswar: Armed men killed five people, including a senior Hindu leader, in a remote eastern Indian village, police said.

Suspected Maoists raided a Hindu school in Kandhamal, Orissa on Saturday, killing the elderly leader, who has ties with the India's Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), and four others.

Religious tension has gripped the small rural town, where hardline Hindus accuse Christian priests of converting poor low-caste Hindus and tribespeople.

Christian groups say lower-caste Hindus who convert do so willingly to escape the highly stratified and oppressive Hindu caste system.

Police say they have evidence to link Maoist guerrillas to the attack. "We have found a letter from the spot which indicates that it may be a Maoists attack," Kishan Kumar, the area's top government official said.

Maoists were trying to garner support among the region's poor tribes by attacking the Hindus, police said.