Meanwhile, the official death toll since the riot broke out on Monday in the wake of the killing of VHP leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati went up to ten on Wednesday. However, informal sources put the death toll at 18.

The Centre on Wednesday despatched a five-member high-power team headed by Minister of State for Home, Sriprakash Jaiswal, to make an on-the-spot assessment of the developments. Jaiswal, however, cancelled his tour of the district after the State government advised him not to make the trip for security reasons.

However, he met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at the secretariat and discussed the Kandhamal situation. Later, the chief minister said he had requested the Centre to send four more batallions of paramilitary forces and three helicopters for deployment in Kandhamal.

Report of rioters attacking and setting on fire more churches and prayer houses came from the troubled district on Wednesday as well. Four policemen sustained injuries in stone pelting by the rioters.

A gunbattle between Hindu and Christian groups was reported from Kotpad village in the district on Wednesday. A detailed report on the incident was being awaited at the time of writing this report.

The eruption of similar communal violence in some areas of the neighbouring districts has become an added worry for the State government.

Meanwhile, the National Commission for Women (NCW) member, Manju Hembram, was deputed to the State on Wednesday to make an on-the-spot investigation into the death of a lady employee of a Christian mission house in western Bargarh district during the VHP-sponsored Orissa bundh. However, she could not visit the spot for security reasons.

In another development, the Utkal Christian Council on Wednesday filed a writ petition in the Orissa High Court demanding CBI probe into the death of Laxmanananda Saraswati and the large-scale violence in the State in its wake.