Dibrugarh, Nov. 3: Two persons, one of them a 55-year-old woman, was today injured during an attack by a herd of marauding elephants at Garudharia village under Barbaruah police station in Upper Assam’s Dibrugarh district.

A herd of nearly 80 elephants, which had come out of the Medela and Dehingmukh reserve forests in search of food, had been wreaking havoc in the villages under Larua mouza in the district for around 15 days now.

Rukmini Dehingia and Siujanam Yadav of Garudharia village were injured when a five-year-old elephant that got separated from the herd attacked the villagers who were trying to push back the animal towards the forest to reunite with the herd.

Of the two injured, Rukmini was admitted to the Assam Medical College and Hospital here for treatment.

Villagers said the herd had been damaging standing crop for the past fortnight in villages like Da-Kalakhowa, Moinagaon, Deorigaon, Tinisuti and Metekani.

“After the floods, we are facing the wrath of these animals. The elephants are damaging all our crops which we salvaged from the floods. We are ruined,” said Naren Dehingia, who lost his hut to the elephants.

The villagers also alleged that the forest department had done nothing to protect them and their fields. “They are only giving us some crackers and a few litres of kerosene to fight the elephants,” Parusuram Chettry, another villager, said.

“The department is trying its best to deal with the situation and teams are being sent to drive back the elephants,” Dibrugarh divisional forest officer Anurag Singh said.