The Vatican said it deplored "senseless violence" in Indian Kashmir after rioters defied curfews and torched a Christian school in a surge of anger stoked by the desecration of the Koran.
"Unfortunately, violence yields violence, a senseless violence because it targets the life of innocent people," Pier Luigi Celata, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, said on Sky Tg 24 news channel.
Indian police shot dead 15 people in the disputed Muslim-majority region earlier Monday, the highest death toll for a single day since a wave of anti-India demonstrations began three months ago, with 84 civilians now killed in unrest.
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One policeman also died Monday.
Top state police official Kuldeep Khoda and other local officials blamed Iran's state-run Press TV for fanning simmering anger in Kashmir with a report on a group of Christians who tore pages from the Koran in a demonstration outside the White House on Saturday.
Local authorities later banned the station from broadcasting on local cable channels.
"These reports are causing us a lot of pain," Celata said, recalling Pope Benedict's statement that "violence can never be justified as a response to a slight" and was not compatible with the sacred principles of religion.
