Caught In Gunfight Between Smugglers And Guards, Elephant Killed In Assam Forest

The post-mortem found the elephant had three bullet injuries, a forest official said.

A female elephant was killed in an exchange of fire between forest personnel and suspected logwood smugglers from Arunachal Pradesh inside the Dehing Patkai National Park, officials said on Thursday. Acting on a tip-off, the forest personnel of Hukanjuri and Kathalguri beats in Jeypore Range of Dibrugarh forest division in Assam was out on night patrol in Basabnala area of the park, they said. During patrolling, they spotted a group of timber smugglers busy in illegal felling of trees. On noticing the forest personnel, the smugglers opened fire.