The Venezuelan government has ordered an investigation into the fatal shooting of an opposition student leader, Interior and Justice Minister Tarek El Aissami said Wednesday.

The Prosecutor General's Office put two special prosecutors in charge of the investigation into the murder of Julio Soto.

Soto, a student leader at the University of Zulia and a member of the opposition Social Christian Party, was shot dead Wednesday by a group of unidentified gunmen in the city of Maracaibo.

Several other students who were with Soto at that time were injured during the shooting.

(Xinhua News Agency October 2, 2008)