A visiting Indian guru died after being shot in a clash between rival Sikh communities at a temple in Vienna in which about 30 people were injured, police said.

The guru, Sant Rama Nand (56), one of two visiting the Austrian capital, died of his wounds in hospital after the Sunday clashes involving knives and at least one gun, a police spokesperson said.

"The surgeon said at first he was satisfied with his patient's condition after an emergency operation," the spokesperson told APA news agency. "But the patient lost consciousness and died shortly after midnight (2200 GMT)," he added.

The condition of the second wounded guru, Sant Niranjan Dass (66), was described as stable, the spokesperson said.

The two gurus belonged to the Shri Guru Ravidas Sabha movement.

Separately, Indian media said a curfew was imposed in parts of the Sikh-majority city of Jalandhar in the northern Indian state of Punjab after violence broke out, apparently in response to news of the Vienna incident.

The clash in Vienna broke out around 1.30 pm (1130 GMT). The perpetrators pulled out knives and a gun as the gurus preached at the temple, where about 200 people had gathered, police said.

Others pounced on the attackers, whom a witness said were wearing yellow and blue turbans, and subdued them, police added.

"Six people did not agree" with the sermon, police spokesperson Michael Takacs told Austrian public radio. "One drew a firearm, the others knives. The six people were overpowered by members of the community and seriously injured."

Two of the wounded attackers were in a critical condition after being shot in the head, Takacs added.

Some victims, all men, were hit in the stomach and legs by bullets, and the injured were taken away aboard three helicopters to five hospitals for treatment.

"I was outside when it happened and I only heard the shots," a 21-year-old witness said. "My uncle was hit by a knife on his left side, another man in the eye."

A total of 11 people were seriously injured, said Bernhard Segal, a rescue services spokesperson.

Two other attackers were seriously hurt, while the injuries of the remaining two were less serious and they were in police custody.

Officers had recovered at least three spent cartridges inside the temple and sealed off the surrounding area.

The violence resulted from a dispute between different temples in the Austrian capital, Kumar Balvinder, vice president of the temple where the attack occurred, told APA.

The temple, which opened in December 2005, has protested the caste system that remains popular among some Sikhs. It has been accused of not strictly following Sikh traditions.

Balvinder said that the head of another temple in Vienna had warned that violence could break out due to the gurus' visit. He added that the information had been passed to police.

"We have nothing to do with that," the head of the other temple said on Sunday night.

Followers of the temple where the incident occurred had previously clashed with several other Sikh temples in the city, and other communities were opposed to the arrival of the gurus, Jasuf Kalder, who was at the scene, told APA.

"All the people implicated (in the incident) have been arrested," a police spokesperson in Vienna told AFP, without specifying the number of arrests.

According to the latest figures, the Sikh religious community has 2800 followers in Austria and 25 million worldwide, most of them in northern India.

In India, rioters were reported to have pelted buses with stones and to have set a bus, truck and shops ablaze. Protesters were further reported to have blocked a road in Phagwara, also in Punjab. No one was reported injured.

AFP

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