GUWAHATI: In a daring act of poaching, surrendered Karbi Anglong militants sneaked past a huge security deployment in Kaziranga National Park's (KNP) perimeter and killed a mother rhino and her calf on Saturday evening almost 48 hours after another rhino was poached in the park.
The hilly and thickly forested Karbi Anglong district, once a hotbed of insurgency, is contiguous to KNP. The poaching took place at KNP's Burapahar, the closest forest range to Karbi Anglong.
Park officials said a group of five to six surrendered militants, all armed with automatic rifles, managed to sneak into KNP even as huge deployment of security forces along with forest officials were guarding all the possible entry routes after Friday's poaching incident.
Officials said that the poaching was done at a very rapid speed, amid indiscriminate firing from all direction, giving very little time to security forces to react.
"The poaching took place few minutes before midnight, and within 15 minutes they killed the rhino and her calf, and escaped with two horns. The firing was from different sides, leaving security forces almost clueless about the direction from which the poachers were firing," a KNP official said.
The officials said that the surrendered militants managed took advantage of darkness and sneak between two entry points where security forces were guarding.
Sources said that the spot where the two rhino were poached was not far away from the national highway 37, which forms the southern perimeter of KNP.
That surrendered militants were involved in the latest poaching incident, officials said, was evident from the fact that all the members of the group were armed and carried out the operation with a sweeping rapidity which is usually not seen when poachers' gang enters the Park to kill rhino.
Also poachers usually use .303 rifle as the most preferred firearm to gun down a rhino. Of course of late, even poachers have also started using automatic firearms like AK 47 and 56, but these are used for their protection against forest guards, not for killing rhino. Of late there has been growing nexus between poachers and militants in supplying firearms, which the KNP authorities said is becoming a dangerous trend.
The carcasses of two rhinos killed on Saturday bore several bullet injuries, indicating that the surrendered militants had to resort to heavy firing with automatic rifles to bring down the animals.
With the latest killings, rhino casualty in KNP has reached five so far this year, which is comparatively less than previous years. At least `11 rhinos were poached last year in KNP, also a World Heritage Site and a home to 2000-odd one-horned pachyderms. End
The hilly and thickly forested Karbi Anglong district, once a hotbed of insurgency, is contiguous to KNP. The poaching took place at KNP's Burapahar, the closest forest range to Karbi Anglong.
Park officials said a group of five to six surrendered militants, all armed with automatic rifles, managed to sneak into KNP even as huge deployment of security forces along with forest officials were guarding all the possible entry routes after Friday's poaching incident.
Officials said that the poaching was done at a very rapid speed, amid indiscriminate firing from all direction, giving very little time to security forces to react.
"The poaching took place few minutes before midnight, and within 15 minutes they killed the rhino and her calf, and escaped with two horns. The firing was from different sides, leaving security forces almost clueless about the direction from which the poachers were firing," a KNP official said.
The officials said that the surrendered militants managed took advantage of darkness and sneak between two entry points where security forces were guarding.
Sources said that the spot where the two rhino were poached was not far away from the national highway 37, which forms the southern perimeter of KNP.
That surrendered militants were involved in the latest poaching incident, officials said, was evident from the fact that all the members of the group were armed and carried out the operation with a sweeping rapidity which is usually not seen when poachers' gang enters the Park to kill rhino.
Also poachers usually use .303 rifle as the most preferred firearm to gun down a rhino. Of course of late, even poachers have also started using automatic firearms like AK 47 and 56, but these are used for their protection against forest guards, not for killing rhino. Of late there has been growing nexus between poachers and militants in supplying firearms, which the KNP authorities said is becoming a dangerous trend.
The carcasses of two rhinos killed on Saturday bore several bullet injuries, indicating that the surrendered militants had to resort to heavy firing with automatic rifles to bring down the animals.
With the latest killings, rhino casualty in KNP has reached five so far this year, which is comparatively less than previous years. At least `11 rhinos were poached last year in KNP, also a World Heritage Site and a home to 2000-odd one-horned pachyderms. End
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