05-25-2009, 03:18 AM
<b>Police: Victim in Sikh temple shooting dies</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->VIENNA â Sikhs wielding knives and a handgun attacked two preachers at a rival temple in Vienna in a brawl that left one of the victims dead Monday and at least 15 others wounded, police said. A related clash later broke out in northern India.
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Mohnder Ram, a worshipper who said he had lived in Vienna for decades and attended services at the temple every Sunday, said it is run by followers of Shri Guru Ravidas, a 14th-century founder of a Sikh sect called Dera Sach Khand.
In India, fighting between mainstream Sikhs and <b>followers of the guru broke out in the northern city of Jalandhar several hours after the Vienna clash, in what locals there described as an apparent reaction to the melee in the Austrian capital. Sanjiv Kalra, a senior police official at Jalandhar, said that protesters had set fire to a number of vehicles and erected several roadblocks across the city. He gave no other details.</b>
Witnesses in Vienna spoke of chaos.
"Everybody was praying and then it started with knives and a pistol," said Nermal Singh, barefooted, his shirt bloodied and his head bandaged from what he said was a knife wound.
Ram, 72, said, "I heard four to five shots" in the temple. "People started screaming, children were crying as they ran out
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<b>Witnesses said the perpetrators were fundamentalist Sikhs from a higher caste, who accused one or both of the preachers of being disrespectful of the Holy Book</b>. Indian news reports said the attackers were incensed that one of the preachers was given a ceremonial shawl considered a high Sikh honor.
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The<b> Dera Sach Khand sect comprises mostly Sikhs belonging to the lower Dalit caste.</b>
There are several such Deras across the northern state of Punjab. While there are disagreements between the Deras and Sikh religious authorities, violent clashes are rare.
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Mohnder Ram, a worshipper who said he had lived in Vienna for decades and attended services at the temple every Sunday, said it is run by followers of Shri Guru Ravidas, a 14th-century founder of a Sikh sect called Dera Sach Khand.
In India, fighting between mainstream Sikhs and <b>followers of the guru broke out in the northern city of Jalandhar several hours after the Vienna clash, in what locals there described as an apparent reaction to the melee in the Austrian capital. Sanjiv Kalra, a senior police official at Jalandhar, said that protesters had set fire to a number of vehicles and erected several roadblocks across the city. He gave no other details.</b>
Witnesses in Vienna spoke of chaos.
"Everybody was praying and then it started with knives and a pistol," said Nermal Singh, barefooted, his shirt bloodied and his head bandaged from what he said was a knife wound.
Ram, 72, said, "I heard four to five shots" in the temple. "People started screaming, children were crying as they ran out
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<b>Witnesses said the perpetrators were fundamentalist Sikhs from a higher caste, who accused one or both of the preachers of being disrespectful of the Holy Book</b>. Indian news reports said the attackers were incensed that one of the preachers was given a ceremonial shawl considered a high Sikh honor.
...
The<b> Dera Sach Khand sect comprises mostly Sikhs belonging to the lower Dalit caste.</b>
There are several such Deras across the northern state of Punjab. While there are disagreements between the Deras and Sikh religious authorities, violent clashes are rare.
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