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Indian police probe sectarian clashes

  • Story Highlights
  • Orissa state in east-central India has been racked by Hindu-Christian violence
  • 23 civilians have died in the state's troubled Kandhamal district this month
  • Latest attacks follow calls for state to take firm measures to control conflict
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NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- A mob killed a Hindu man in the Indian state of Orissa Thursday as another group attacked a church in another part of the state's troubled Kandhamal district, authorities said Friday.

Christian activists stage a peace march in Mumbai, India earlier this month.

Christian activists stage a peace march in Mumbai, India earlier this month.

Krishan Kumar, Kandhamal's top administrative official, told CNN the Hindu man was hacked to death at Raikia.

Orissa state, which is dominated by tribal people, borders the Bay of Bengal in east-central India, and Kandhamal is located in the center of the state, which has been racked by Hindu-Christian violence.

Praveen Kumar, Kandhamal's superintendent of police, said an investigation is under way in both incidents, and did not say whether any suspects were being sought.

Twenty-three civilians, excluding police, have died in the Hindu-Christian violence in Kandhamal this month, according to the administrator.

"Arrests are continuing," Praveen Kumar said when asked how many people have been held so far in connection with the violence.

The latest attacks occurred on a day when India's federal government called upon the state administration to take "effective, focused and firm measures" to control the conflicts.

On Thursday, federal Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta asked the Orissa government to ensure effective deployment of paramilitaries in the state.

-- CNN's Harmeet Shah Singh contributed to this report.

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