INDIA:VIOLENT CLASHES between Hindus and Christians in India's eastern Orissa state spread to new areas yesterday after the recovery of three more bodies, bringing the death toll in the province to 11.
Most of the dead were Christians. Hindu mobs have damaged more than a dozen churches and attacked Christian homes and an orphanage this week after a Hindu leader was murdered in Orissa's Kandhamal district, a largely tribal area where missionaries have long been active.
The murdered leader was heading a campaign to reconvert Hindus and tribal people from Christianity.
Police blamed the killing of the Hindu leader on local Maoist rebels, but Hindus linked to the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, the BJP, blamed Christians.
The Vatican has condemned the attacks, calling for an "end to all bullying" and a return to dialogue between communities that have lived in uneasy peace for decades.
A body representing Indian bishops said some 25,000 Catholic schools and colleges across the country will close tomorrow in protest at the Orissa killings.
Christians and Christian groups have been periodically attacked in other parts of Orissa and across India, particularly during the six-year federal rule of the Hindu nationalist BJP that ended in 2004.
Christians constitute about 2.5 per cent of India's population of over 1.2 billion, the majority of whom are Hindu.