August 1, 2012: Two poachers were killed in an encounter with forest guards at Orang National Park late last night. A .303 rifle, ammunition and mobile phones were found on them.

Although the duo are yet to be identified, an Imphal-Dimapur bus ticket was recovered from the possession of one of the slain poachers triggering suspicion that one of them could be from either Manipur or Nagaland. The ticket was purchased on July 29.

The divisional forest officer of Orang, Sushil Kumar Daila, said a gang of four poachers crossed the Punchnoi river last night and entered the park when they were accosted by a group of forest guards. The poachers were armed with two .303 rifles.

"When the poachers were challenged, they opened fire at the forest guards and in retaliatory firing, two poachers died while the other two escaped," Daila said.

The official said the encounter took place around 1.30am but the bodies were recovered in the morning after a search operation was launched in the area.

Besides one rifle, 18 rounds of ammunition, three mobile phones, two bags containing food, clothes and other items were recovered from the encounter site. Read Full Report here.