Pakistani police shoot killer leopard

ISLAMABAD - Pakistani policemen yesterday shot and killed a leopard blamed for the deaths of six people in the country's northern mountains, police said.

The killings began early this month and the latest victim was attacked on Friday. All of the victims were women who were killed while in the forest collecting wood or fodder.

Police managed to trap the animal at the site of its last kill, but were forced to shoot it as it struggled and seemed about to break out of the trap, said Feroz Shah, senior police official in the town of Abbotabad.

"We're sure it's the same one," Shah said when asked how he knew the dead leopard was responsible for killing the six women.

"It's a huge animal and it came back to the same spot where it killed the last woman," he said.

Although leopards are protected, police had been given permission by wildlife authorities to hunt and kill the animal.

- REUTERS