(IN): Poachers hit in shootout at Kaziranga

[Guest guest]

Link: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080606/jsp/northeast/story_9369469.jsp

 

Poachers hit in shootout at Kaziranga

 

- Rangers launch hunt for bodies, believe the injured could not have escaped

far

 

A STAFF REPORTER

 

Guwahati, June 5: When forest guards patrolling deep inside Kaziranga

National Park accosted a country boat with eight persons last evening, they

quickly realised that the occupants were neither fishermen eking out a

living nor adventure-seekers on a joyride, but poachers preparing to strike

in the dead of night.

 

No sooner had they issued a directive to the occupants of the boat to moor

it than the guards were greeted with a fusillade of bullets.

 

The guards retaliated with all their firepower, spraying bullets on the boat

but the poachers jumped into the Brahmaputra.

 

The guards knew they had hit some of the poachers. How many had died was the

question.

 

This morning, elite rangers of the park launched a search for the bodies of

the poachers suspected to have been killed in the gunbattle at Sanaksingh

Toppo under Burapahar range of the park.

 

" The guards are sure that at least two poachers were hit by bullets, " a

Kaziranga official said.

 

A range officer, who was in the thick of action last evening, said darkness

had already fallen in the forest when the guards spotted beams of torchlight

coming from the river towards the park.

 

" The guards first took them for fishermen. But the boat kept coming towards

the park's boundary and when the guards flashed a light at the boat and

asked its occupants to moor it, the poachers opened fired, " he said.

 

The guards retaliated immediately. Guards from three nearby camps also

joined the shootout.

 

" Our guards saw eight persons jumping into the river, some of them injured, "

the range officer added.

 

He said the injured poachers could not have swum far and would be taking

shelter inside the park. As for the dead, their bodies could have been swept

away by the river.

 

The guards recovered food and camping material from the boat.

 

Park director S.N. Buragohain said poachers had become active on the

northern side of the park after anti-poaching operations were intensified on

the southern side, which was hitherto considered vulnerable. A group of

eight poachers, who were apprehended from the Bagori range on Saturday, had

also entered the park from the northern side by country boats, he added.

 

He said poachers use country boats during the floods since it is the only

mode of transport inside the park. " Most of the areas get flooded during

monsoon and poachers use boats to strike. "

 

Poachers find it convenient to travel deep inside Kaziranga during the

monsoon as water from the Brahmaputra spills onto the park then. The

Diphloo, a tributary, meets the Brahmaputra at Sanaksingh, the site of last

evening's gunbattle.

 

Poachers have killed six rhinos in Kaziranga this year.

[image:

Top]<http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080606/jsp/northeast/story_9369469.jsp#top>

 

--

United against elephant polo

http://www.stopelephantpolo.com

http://www.freewebs.com/azamsiddiqui