Police said more than 100 people had been arrested after rioters torched nearly 500 houses as well as Christian prayer halls and vehicles in eastern Orissa state.

'Over 300 people fled our village and have taken shelter in the forest,' Kanu Chandra Nayek told the Indian Express newspaper after his village was attacked by a Hindu mob.

'Here we have almost nothing to eat, there's a constant downpour, our children are sick,' Mr Nayek was quoted saying.

Indian police have been ordered to shoot on sight after the killing of a popular Hindu holy leader on Saturday sparked the riots, which have drawn the condemnation of the pope.

Orissa authorities say nine people have died, but government officials speaking on condition of anonymity have put the toll at 16.

'The situation is certainly tense but under control,' local civil administrator Satyabrata Sahu told AFP.

Residents waited in a 1.6-kilometre long queue to buy essential supplies when the curfew was relaxed for a few hours in the worst-hit Kandhmal district.

Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday 'firmly condemned' the violence in Orissa, where Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two young sons were burnt alive in 1999 - a crime for which a Hindu man is serving life in jail.

Hindu-Christian clashes erupt periodically in India where 2.3 per cent of the more than 1.1 billion population are Christians.

Hardline Hindus accuse missionaries of 'bribing' poor tribals and low-caste Hindus, who often face strong discrimination, to convert by offering education and health care.

Police have blamed the death of Saraswati, who had campaigned against the so-called 'forced conversions,' on Maoist guerrillas. But Hindus accused Christians of responsibility for his death. -- AFP