Malbazar (WB), Dec 10 (PTI) Two persons were killed by a wild elephant in northern West Bengal's Jalpaiguri district in the early hours of Friday, officials said.

The incident happened in Batabari in Malbazar subdivision's Meteli block, they said.

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The elephant is suspected to have strayed from the Gorumara forest in search of food, they said.

The tusker first went to the courtyard of Agun Orao (42) in Indong Bustee's Kustudhara area in search of recently-cultivated paddy, locals said.

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As Agun tried to flee on spotting the elephant, it picked him up with the trunk and lobbed him, they said.

Agun died on the spot, police said.

The elephant then went to Bijoy's house in Line No. 19, locals said.

It broke through the walls of Bijoy's thatched hut, pulled him out with the trunk and carried him to a certain distance and tossed him into the air, killing him, they said.

The incidents led to tension in the area with people scared to go out.

Locals were also agitated as wild animals were frequently straying into the area from nearby forests. Earlier this week, a bear strayed into the area, leading to the suspension of the local book fair for a day, besides triggering panic.

The bear was rescued from a government building on Thursday morning.

The bodies of Agun and Bijoy were sent for post-mortem, police said.

Police and forest personnel were in the area to assess the situation.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)