KERALA RSS ACTIVIST SLAIN, STRIKE TODAY

Kannur, Kerala: A 32year old RSS activist was killed when an unidentified gang attacked him in politically- volatile Kathirur in the district Monday, prompting the saffron outfit to call a statewide hartal Tuesday.

E. Manoj, a local office- bearer of the RSS, was waylaid on a road by the gang which threw a country- made bomb at him and then hacked him to death before fleeing the area near Thalassery, the police said. RSS- BJP leaders alleged the CPI( M) was behind the killing and gave a call for a dawnto- dusk hartal in the state Tuesday. BJP president Amit Shah, who was in the state capital, condemned the killing. The area, which was witness to violence involving RSS and CPI( M) workers in the past, has been largely calm in the last few years.