Sant Niranjan Dass, 66, was wounded in the abdomen and the hip when six men - also Sikhs, and armed with knives and at least one gun - attacked a large gathering at a Vienna temple on Sunday, injuring 16 others, police said.

Another Sikh guru visiting from India, Sant Rama Nand, 56, was shot and died early Monday of his injuries after an emergency operation.

Five of the six suspects, who were subdued by the crowd, were currently in custody in Vienna, police spokesman Michael Takacs said on Tuesday. The sixth was still in hospital in critical condition.

Investigators noted however that questioning of the suspects and two dozen witnesses was proving difficult, as they spoke an Urdu dialect and few interpreters were available in Vienna.

Members of the Austrian elite police unit Cobra were providing protection for Sant Niranjan Dass and the suspect who remained in hospital to prevent possible reprisals, Takacs said.

The Sikh community in Austria condemned the clash, which also sparked violence in the historic homeland of Sikhism in India, and insisted Tuesday it 'condemns every form of fanaticism.'

The temple at Pelzgasse, where the attack occurred, said it had received threats from another Viennese Sikh temple in connection with the visit by the two Indian gurus.

Opened in December 2005, it has protested the caste system that remains popular among some Sikhs and has been accused of not strictly following Sikh traditions. About 2,800 Sikhs live in Austria, according to statistics.

The unrest in India caused at least two deaths in separate incidents, and security was tight across the northern state of Punjab Tuesday, with armed police enforcing a curfew in all major towns and cities. -- AFP