Two more church attacks in Karnataka

Two more incidents of attacks on churches were reported from Bangalore and Mangalore on Friday even as the government claimed to have restored normalcy in the state.

In Mangalore, some unidentified persons damaged a glass pane surrounding a statue of Infant Jesus located outside the compound of a church on the Bantwal-Poonjalkatte Road at Moorje.

Police said some unidentified miscreants on a motorcycle visited the St Xavier Church at Moorje in the wee hours and damaged the statue, but fled after they realised that some youths were in the vicinity, guarding the church.

In Bangalore rural, some unidentified persons pelted stones at a church at Manchanhalli around 14 kms from Chikkaballapur and damaged its window panes.

The church belonging to the Pentecostal group was used once a week to conduct religious service and was generally kept locked rest of the week, police said.

With the fresh incidents, the total number of attacks on churches rose to 20. Fiday's attacks followed after the Centre issued an advisory directing the state to ensure law and

order.

Earlier, Karnataka Home Minister V S Acharya told media that the government would not allow Bajrang Dal, which is suspected to be behind the attacks, to take law into its hands and also claimed that normalcy had been restored in the state.

The state government has ordered a judicial probe into the past 18 incidents occurred since Sunday last besides investigations by Corps of Detectives.