In a fresh flare-up of political clashes in Kerala's [Images] Kannur district, two BJP workers and a CPI-M activist were stabbed to death and one person was injured in separate incidents in Thalassery, triggering panic and tension in the politically sensitive belts of the town on Wednesday, the police said.

Violence broke out after the stabbing of a BJP worker Sumesh (40) by suspected CPI-M workers at Narangapuram in the town at 3 pm. He suffered serious head injuries and one of his palms got severed, police said.

The incident triggered a series of clashes between the rival parties with a CPI-M activist Rajinth being critically injured in an attack by the BJP-RSS workers at the busy Logans

Road in Thalassery within a span of 15 minutes after Sumesh was attacked, they said.

The 39-year-old Ranjith, an autorikshaw driver, died at the Thalassery Cooperative Hospital where he was rushed.

As the violence spread, two RSS-BJP workers -- Nikhil and Satyan alias Santosh -- were stabbed to death allegedly by CPI-M workers near Thalassery later, the police said.

Nikhil (22), a truck driver was attacked after his vehicle was waylaid by a group of persons at Kooli Bazar near Thalassery. Nikhil ran out of the vehicle for safety but was

done to death while Santhosh was stabbed to death at Eruvatty near the town this evening, the police said.

The condition of BJP worker Sumesh, who had been admitted to the Kozhikode Medical College Hospital, remained very critical, police said.