More churches, homes burnt in Orissa

Communal violence spread in Orissa on Thursday with fresh incidents of mobs burning churches and homes, adding to the tensions in the state that has seen at least 11 people being killed in revenge for the murder of a Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader last week.
The situation was so volatile that Minister of State for Home Sri Prakash Jaiswal and other Congress leaders, who arrived in Bhubaneswar to visit riot hit areas, were told by the state government that they could not do so and returned to New Delhi.
Though the volatile Kandhamal district continued to be the worst hit with mobs defying curfew, blocking roads and attacking churches even after shoot-at-sight orders, there were reports of churches and homes being attacked from other parts of the state too.
Police said trouble had spread to new areas, including the western district of Bolangir and the coastal district of Kendrapada.
No details were available but officials said curfew had been clamped in Kendrapada town and security intensified in Bolangir.
"There have been stray incidents of violence in Kandhamal. We have also received reports of people burning a church in the district of Bolangir," said Director General of Police Gopal Chandra Nanda, adding that more than 3,000 policemen had been deployed."We are hopeful normalcy would return in a week," Nanda told IANS while describing the situation as "under control".