New Delhi  - A woman was killed and more than a dozen people injured in renewed violence Tuesday in India's eastern state of Orissa, where clashes between Hindus and Christians have claimed 30 lives in the past month, news reports said.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, during a visit to France, condemned the violence and instructed the Orissa government to maintain law and order.

Local news outlets reported that mobs set fire to more than 100 Christian homes and a church in three different places in the central district of Kandhamal.

Christians retaliated later, and in the resulting violent clashes, people from both sides were injured. Police opened fire to disperse the angry mobs.

A 40-year-old woman identified as Rukmini Nayak was killed in the violence and more than a dozen people were injured, Orissa police chief Pradeep Kapur told the IANS news agency.

The region has been witnessing communal violence since August 23, when Hindu leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati and four of his aides were shot dead by unidentified gunmen.

The right-wing Vishwa Hindu Parishad organization, which Saraswati belonged to, accused Christians of the murders, a charge denied by Christian organizations.

Since then, thousands of people have been rendered homeless, many churches attacked and at least 30 people, mostly Christians, killed in the state. Night curfew have been imposed in most towns.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister's Office in New Delhi issued a statement condemning the violence.

"Prime Minister Singh has advised the state government of Orissa to maintain utmost vigil and ensure law and order and protection to life and property of all citizens," the statement said.

At the India-EU summit in Marseilles Monday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the head of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, raised the issue of the Christian killings in the state.

At a joint press conference with the leaders later, Singh said the incidents were a "national shame" and assured them that his government would defend secular values and religious freedoms. (dpa)