The two rhinos that were gunned down in Kaziranga

GUWAHATI: Surrendered Karbi Anglong militants sneaked past a huge security deployment in Kaziranga National Park and killed a rhino and her calf late on Saturday night. This came almost 48 hours after another rhino was killed by poachers in the park.

The hilly and thickly forested Karbi Anglong district, once a hotbed of insurgency, is contiguous to the national park. The poaching incident took place at the park's Burapahar range, closest to Karbi Anglong.

"The poaching took place a few minutes before midnight. Within 15 minutes, the poachers killed the rhino and her calf, and escaped with two horns. The firing came from different directions, giving security forces little chance to recover or figure out where the poachers were," a park official said.

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 Kaziranga has reached five this year, which is lower than previous years.

