Tezpur, March 31: A herd of 40 to 50 wild elephants, which has strayed out of Kaziranga National Park's sixth addition in Biswanath district of central Assam, damaged several hectares of boro rice crop and wreaked havoc in Gohpur subdivision last night.

The elephants destroyed crops in the Paken area of Gohpur subdivision. The forest staff, with their limited manpower, and police put in relentless efforts to chase the herd away throughout the night and finally managed to push it back.

Earlier, the herd destroyed crops in Jakapara and Bakoridoloni, about 8km from Gohpur.

Divisional forest officer (East Sonitpur) Rajen Choudhury told The Telegraph that forest personnel had to fire50 rounds in the air during the operation.

He said enraged villagers even snatched away guns from the police and forest personnel and the tense situation was only brought under control by the police later.

Choudhury said the man-elephant conflict has been a perennial problem in Gohpur. In Biswanath subdivision, the menace is comparatively less because the forest department had erected electric fences along fringes of the forest.

In another incident, a wild elephant demolished five houses at Misamari in Sonitpur district last night.

Tezpur assistant conservator of forest Jashim Ahmed said an elephant, whom the locals call Laden, strayed out of Sonai-Rupai wildlife sanctuary and destroyed the five houses. Though the occupants were asleep, everybody managed to escape. Later on, forest officials and the villagers managed to push it back to the jungle.