Phulbani, Dec. 25 2009: Christmas celebrations passed off peacefully in Kandhamal district of Odisha on Friday. No untoward incident was reported from any part of the district.
Hundreds of security personnel were deployed in areas having Christian population across the district to make the event peaceful.
Members of the Christian community attended the midnight mass in different churches in the district without fear.
Police had intensified patrolling round the clock to keep the miscreants at bay.
People were also seen visiting churches and prayer house throughout the day.
Christmas celebrations were hampered in Kandhamal during the past two years due to communal tension.
When many churches were attacked on Christmas day in the district in 2007, there was little celebration last year as thousands of Christian families that fled their homes in the wake of communal riots during August, September and October had not returned to their villages.
Hundreds of Christian families have not returned to their villages till date as communal tension continues to prevail in the interior pockets of the district.
The district had witnessed large scale attacks on Christians and their homes and places of worship following the killing of VHP leader Laxmanananda Saraswati in August last year.
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