Kannur in northern Kerala [Images], which witnessed violent clashes between supporters of the Communist Party of India � Marxist and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh over the last decade, is tense again after the recent killings of a CPI-M member and a RSS worker.

Ajit, a CPI-M member, was killed in an STD booth that he owns while RSS worker Vinayan was killed when he was sitting in the verandhah of a shop.

Miscreants also targeted Kannur's Superintendent of Police S Sreejith and his team, and lobbed country-made bombs at them. Sreejith escaped unhurt but the police failed to take any of the miscreants into custody as a violent mob had assembled on the spot.

The violent clashes between the CPI-M and the RSS has claimed over 500 lives in Kannur, which has traditionally been a Left bastion.

Both sides have lost many top leaders in the violence. The state vice president of the Bharatiya Yuva [Images] Morcha K T Jayakrishnan and the district general secretary of the BJP Panniyannur Chandran were allegedly killed by  CPI-M supporters .While Jayakrishnan, a school teacher, was killed in front of his students in December 1999, Chandran was killed in front of his wife in April 1996.

The state joint secretary of the Student's Federation of India K V Sudeesh was killed in January 1994 in front of his parents . Sudheesh was then the elected representative of the Kannur district panchayat.

The violent murders, which have brought Kannur on the edge again, pose a big problem for the students of class 10 and class 12 in the area, who are currently facing their board exams. The continous hartals and limited public transport are adding to their woes.

The people of the area do not have much faith in the state government's ability to restore law and order in the area.

"We are doomed with this fate .Nothing is taking place in this area, people are jobless, girls remain unmarried as boys stay clear of this area. Innocent people have been murdered due to mistaken identities," Kunhikkanan, a local tailor, told rediff.com.

"This situation is affecting more and more people psychologically," he added.