Seven more killed in Orissa violence

Seven people were killed in strife-torn Kandhamal district today with incidents of arson and vandalism being reported from several areas in defiance of the prohibitory order.

The killing of senior VHP leader Swami Laxmananda Saraswati has triggered a wave of violence and sparked communal tension in the district.

PTI, quoting Director General of Police Gopal Chandra Nanda, said seven people were killed, four of them when police opened fire to disperse a mob which attacked places of worship, prayer halls and shops at Barakhama in Kandhamal district.

Three people were killed when their houses were torched in Raikia area around last midnight, official sources said. Two others, including a woman, were killed when a missionary-run orphanage was set on fire yesterday.

Almost the entire Kandhamal district was placed under indefinite curfew today.

Many homes and prayer houses were reportedly damaged in Raikia, G Udayagiri, Phulabani, Chakapada, Tumudibandh and Baliguda areas despite the prohibitory order and the presence of a thick blanket of security persons.

“Tension continues in several areas and we have mobilised additional forces to maintain law and order,” said Satyabrata Sahu, revenue divisional commissioner of the southern division. He did not confirm the number of casualties.

Sahu has been in the district since the escalation of violence following the killing of the Swami and his four followers at Jalespeta ashram near Tumudibandha.

Meanwhile, in the wake of the continuing violence, the administration has extended the curfew for an indefinite period in sensitive areas, including Phulabani, the district headquarters, Tumudibandha and Baliguda.

While prohibitory orders were clamped in the entire district under Section 144, the district administration is planning to impose night curfew in trouble-prone areas like Raikia, Phiringia and K Nuagaon.

“We are keeping a watch on the situation and if it is beyond our control, we will be forced to impose the prohibitory order,” said a senior district officer.