A team of forest officials were on Thursday attacked by a group of armed poachers at the Kuldiha sanctuary in Baleswar district when they had gone to nab the latter following a tipoff.
The five personnel were outnumbered by the poachers and were thrashed mercilessly, leaving most of them critically injured.
One of the five injured officials was rushed to the District Headquarters Hospital after his condition worsened.
“They appeared suddenly and launched the attack. Five officials have been injured in the incident. While one of them has his wrist broken, another one has suffered head injuries,” informed Balasore Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Biswaraj Panda.
To prevent occurrence of such incidents, armed police force should be deployed along with the forest staff, he stated.
“I have spoken to Baleswar SP and asked for a team of armed police,” Panda added.