Jalandhar witnesses violence over Sikh Gurudwara shooting in Vienna

Jalandhar, May 25 (ANI): At least three bogies of Kanyakumari-Jammu Tawi Express were put on fire and another train near Phagwara attacked by agitated protestors on Monday morning over Sikh Gurudwara shooting incident in Vienna.

Authorities have closed down the Jalandhar-Phagwara National Highway to prevent escalation of the violence.

In Amritsar and Patiala, a large number of protestors have come on roads and taken to violence to express their angst over the incident.

On Sunday, Jalandhar witnessed protests in the evening over the shooting incident in Austrian capital Vienna in which at least 11 people had been reportedly injured in the afternoon.

Tension gripped Jalandhar as soon as news about the shooting on Saint Niranjan Dass, head of Dera Sachkhand Ballan, reached the city.

Agitated followers of the Saint here turned violent and torched several vehicles.

Fearing escalation of protest, authorities in Jalandhar imposed curfew in several parts of the city as a preventive measure.

Reports from Austria, stated that eleven people were wounded after some armed men attacked the preacher and worshippers at a Sikh temple in Vienna on Sunday.

Local authorities and witnesses initially said the assailants were from two feuding families, but later said, it involved members of several rival Sikh temples in Vienna who had been at odds for several years.

According the Vienna police, it all started when six people burst into the temple in Vienna's Rudolfsheim district during a religious service and attacked the preacher and other worshippers. One of the assailants was firing a gun and others wielding knives. In the ensuing violence, at least 11 people suffered gunshot and stab wounds before the assailants were subdued. (ANI)