M A I N   N E W S

7 more killed in Orissa backlash

Bhubaneswar, August 26
Seven persons were killed, four of them in police firing, in unabated violence in Orissa’s Kandhamal district, taking the toll to nine, in the backlash to the killing of VHP leader Laxmanananda Saraswati as curfew was clamped in all major towns of the district.

Four persons were killed when the police opened fire to disperse a mob that attacked places of worship, prayer halls and shops at Barakhama in Kandhamal district, DGP Gopal Chandra Nanda said.

Three persons were killed when their houses were torched in Raikia area last night, 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 and the Rapid Action Force, CRPF and the state police were deployed, revenue divisional commissioner (southern division) Satyabrata Sahu said. “The district has also been made a no entry zone. No one is being allowed to enter from outside as part of steps to restore normalcy and peace,” Sahu said.

Sporadic violence was also reported from Gajapati, Rayagada, Sundergarh and Kendrapara districts during the day.

In the state capital, a large number of sadhus and sants were taken into custody as a preventive measure while they were trying to march towards the state assembly building to protest the killing of Saraswati.

Prohibitory orders under Section 144 were also in force Kalahandi.

Saraswati and four others were gunned down at an ashram for girls at Jalespeta in Tumudibandh area of Kandhamal on Saturday.

Home secretary T.K Mishra met Governor M C Bhandare and was believed to have apprised him of the situation in Kandhamal and elsewhere following the large-scale violence.

Barakhama, the scene of the firing, is considered communally sensitive and had also witnessed riots in December.

A large number of churches, houses, and vehicles were torched by mobs in several areas, including Nuagaon, Udaygiri, Raikia, Phiringia and Baliguda, since yesterday. — PTI