BHUBANESHWAR: Eight people, including two trapped inside burning huts, were killed when Christians clashed with Hindu mobs attacking churches in eastern India, officials said on Tuesday.

Police imposed a curfew in the Kandhamal district of Orissa state after overnight attacks by hardline Hindus to avenge the killing of one of their leaders, whose death they blamed on Christian militants.

Satyabrata Sahoo, a top state official, would not say if the dead were Hindus or Christians. Amid the violence that began late on Monday, rioters set fire to thatched huts, and two people were burnt alive when they could not escape.

Another four people were killed on Tuesday in an exchange of gunfire between the rival groups in Barakhama, a village 265 kilometres west of Bhubaneshwar, the capital of Orissa state, Navin Patnaik said, adding that, the rival groups also attacked some homes and government offices in the area. Another two people were killed in the region on Monday night, Sahoo said.