Keonjhar: A herd of 18 elephants have sneaked into villages ravaging farmlands in the district since past 24 hours.

The latest man-elephant conflict has come to light at two villages on the fringe of Sadar forest range.

"The herd have been tracked at the forest areas lying in close vicinity of Basantpur and Jangira villages. A month ago, there was report of elephant intrusion at the same place. However, we had successfully chased them back to forested areas," said Keonjhar forest range officer Ashok Kumar Nayak.

He said the animals had made their way to the Sadar forest range leaving behind their original habitat in the neighbouring forest covers in Ghatagaon and Telkoi ranges.

On Tuesday night, the jumbos sneaked into crop fields, causing damage to crops.

The skilled service group of elephant chasers are keeping round-the-clock watch on these animals. The Global Positioning System tracking teams have spotted their movement close to human habitation areas.

The elephants have mostly trampled the vegetable plants and banana plantations. During day hours, the elephants' movement is confined within the forest, while they stride their way into forest-side at night. "As the jumbos' location has been tracked, we are hopeful of blocking their entry to the villages. Patrolling squad consisting of 40 personnel will try to chase the herd to their original habitats in Ghatogaon and Telkoi," the official said. Unlike tigers, elephants are not territorial and migrate long distances. A couple of months ago , elephants from Jharkhand had intruded into the forested areas of Keojhar division.