Aceh elephants on the rampage

BANDA ACEH, Aceh: A herd of wild elephants has been on the rampage for the last week, destroying crops and causing panic in Lambaro Tunong village, Seulimun subdistrict.

Local military spokesman Lt. Col. Muhammad Hadis said that the village, 65 kilometers east of the capital Banda Aceh, is attacked by wild elephants almost every year.

Villager Ahmad Puteh, 60, was killed during one of the recent rampages, he was quoted by the Antara news agency as saying.

Spokesman for the local office of natural resource conservation, Abdul Latif, explained that Lambaro Tunong is among several villages through which elephants from Seulawah Mountain habitually roam.

"Elephants are stubborn creatures and it's not easy to divert them from their habitat, even if the areas have been turned into human settlements," Latif said. (swe)