New Delhi - Midnight Christmas mass was attended by thousands of Christians amid heavy security across India's eastern state of Orissa that had witnessed widespread anti-Christian violence earlier this year, a news report said Thursday.

"We have not received information of any trouble. It seems to be all peaceful," Raphael Cheenath, Archbishop of Bhubaneshwar, the state capital, told the IANS news agency.

Cheenath said the Christmas mass was held with prayers and singing in churches across the state, adding that he was satisfied with the security arrangements made by the government.

Orissa's central Kandhamal district had witnessed anti-Christian violence after the August 23 murder of Hindu leader Laxmananda Saraswati who led a campaign against conversion to Christianity in the region.

Although Maoist militants operating in the area claimed responsibility for the killing, fanatical Hindu groups suspecting involvement of Christians in the attack targeted the religious minority.

Nearly 40 people, mostly Christians, were killed in the Hindu-Christian violence that continued over two months.

State officials said except for felling of trees on roads in two places in Kandhamal early on Thursday to block traffic, no untoward incident was reported. The trees were removed by the security forces soon after they were placed there.

About 8,000 people who are still living in state-run relief camps in the district also attended the Christmas mass and decorated the camps.

Over 5,000 security personnel have been deployed and a helicopter was used for surveillance in the Kandhamal district after fears by Christians that violence could break out during Christmas celebrations.

Hindu groups angry that state government had not arrested Laxmananda's killers had called for a state-wide shutdown on Christmas Day. They later called off the proposed strike after assurances by the Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. (dpa)