After a gap of about a month, poachers struck again at the famed Kaziranga National Park in Assam on and killed a one-horned rhino and decamped with its horn.

The incident took place at a time when the State Government had placed maximum security cover to secure the wildlife in the park.

“I was told that a carcass of the rhino was recovered from the Kukurakata range, located deep inside the park. However, the horn was missing. We suspect that the poachers have killed the rhino and taken away the horn. The guards have also recovered bullets of AK series rifles from the place of occurrence,” said Director of the famed national park NK Vasu while talking to The Pioneer.

Vasu expressed concern over the incident and said that a combing operation had been launched in and around the park to track the poachers.

“Poachers have been continuously trying to attack the rhinos—particularly after the demand for rhino horns increased in South East Asian countries, where the rhino horns are used in traditional medicines and as an aphrodisiac,” said Vasu. He added that several other poaching attempts have been foiled by the alert forces deployed in the park.

The Assam Government has deployed about three companies of the elite Assam Forest Protection Force (AFPF) in the park since October this year after there was a sudden spate in rhino killings.

According to official records of the Government of Assam, a total of 12 rhinos were killed by poachers in and around Kaziranga National Park till October this year since January this year. “There are over 235 security personnel deployed in the park as of now, besides the regular forest staff,” said Vasu.

Located about 300 kms away from Assam’s main city Guwahati, the park was opened to tourists on November 1 this year.

Kaziranga, which is also an UNESCO world heritage site, is one of the main tourist destinations of the State. While about 1.25 lakh tourists, including about 7,000 foreign tourists, have visited the park last season, the park authorities are expecting that the number of tourists would increase further this year.