Kathmandu: Authorities are searching for poachers who killed a rare one-horned rhinoceros over the weekend in the forests of southern Nepal and cut off the horn, officials say.

Forest officer Nurendra Aryal said on Sunday it was the first killing of a rhino in the Chitwan National Forest in nearly three years.

Soldiers and forest rangers were scouring the forests and nearby areas for the people who shot the rhino.

The dead animal was discovered on Saturday.