Another murder, Kannur on the boil

The district had remained under the hartal that both sides had called to protest the killings of their respective supporters.

On Wednesday, houses and shops were ransacked and damaged, supporters of either side selectively picked and attacked on the roads 8212;even domestic animals and pets were dragged out and slaughtered 8212; in a two-hour orgy of violence that began minutes after a local RSS leader was stabbed by a bunch of CPIM men.

Thursday8217;s killing took the number of deaths in political violence in Kannur in the last four months to nine, of which six have been CPIM men. About 300 have been killed and scores crippled or maimed for life in political assaults, over the last couple of decades in Kannur. Even the latest figures from the National Crime Records Bureau say Kannur is ahead of any other district in the country in terms of riot cases, logging no less than 737 of these in 2006.

Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan has appealed for calm and restraint on both sides after local leaders of neither the RSS nor the CPIM turned up for a Government-brokered peace meet in the district on Wednesday. The Home Department has, meanwhile, rushed in cops from all neighbouring districts.