QUETTA, Jan 15 Two activists of the Baloch Students' Organisation (Azad) were killed and five others injured in two incidents in Khuzdar on Friday.

“BSO activist Sadam Baloch was killed when Frontier Corps personnel opened fire on him near the Khuzdar Degree College,” a leader of the BSO-A, Shah Zaib Baloch, alleged.The Frontier Corps denied the claim. “Two men opened fire on a convoy of the Kalat Scouts commandant. When FC personnel retaliated, one attacker was killed and the other escaped.”

According to police, BSO-A activists had gathered at the college to stage a rally in protest against “target killings of Baloch people” in Karachi.

BSO-A leaders alleged that Sadam Baloch, a first-year student, was going to the venue of the rally when he was shot dead by the Frontier Corps.

Another activist, Ali Dost, was killed and five others injured in another attack by men riding motorcycles on students who had gathered near the college for the rally. The injured were taken to the Civil Hospital and one of them was shifted to Karachi in critical condition.

BSO-A leaders accused the FC of firing on the activists. However, FC sources said the force had nothing to do with the incident.

After the killings, a mob attacked banks, government buildings and shops in the town. The protesters smashed windowpanes of several buildings and pelted vehicles with stones.

Security was tightened and police and FC personnel were patrolling the town's roads and streets.

Balochistan Home Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Zehri ordered a judicial inquiry into the incidents.

Talking to newsmen in Quetta, he expressed concern over the killings and said culprits would be punished.

“The government is announcing an investigation by a judicial commission,” Mr Zehri said.

He said he would not remain silent over the killing of Baloch youths. He appealed to the people of the area to remain peaceful.

Balochistan National Front (BNF) deputy secretary general Sadiq Raisani and the chief of the Quetta chapter of the BSO-A, Shahzeb Baloch, condemned the “firing by security forces” on the rally.

STRIKE A strike was observed in Quetta and other district headquarters in Balochistan on the call of the Baloch National Front (BNF) in protest against the alleged killings of Baloch people in Lyari.

Protesters also condemned Friday's shooting by security forces on the Khuzdar rally.

Shopping and trading centres in the provincial capital remained closed. The Anjuman-i-Tajiran Balochistan supported the strike call.