Two suspected rhino poachers were killed this morning after an hour-long encounter with forest guards inside Kaziranga National Park (KNP).
"A gang of poachers entered Agoratoli range in the park from Brahmaputra side early in this morning. After getting the information, forest security guards and personnel from forest battalion reached the spot," Senior KNP Official Salim Ahmed said.
Seeing them, the poachers started firing which was retaliated by the security forces.
"Heavy exchange of fire continued for around one hour, leaving two poachers dead. They are yet to be identified," he said.
The bodies were sent for postmortem to Kushal Konwar Civil Hospital in Golaghat.
The forest guards also recovered two .303 rifles, five live cartridges, two mobile phones and two backpacks with food items from the site.
In last four months, KNP security forces have killed 16 poachers, officials said.
