In India, poachers hunting peacock kill 3 police

Three Indian policemen were shot dead by wildlife poachers in central India, a police official said on Saturday, adding that the poachers had opened fire after refusing to surrender when confronted by the officers.

One poacher was killed in the shootout, senior police official Rajiv Kumar Mishra said, giving an account of the incident at a tribal hamlet set in a forested area of Madhya Pradesh state. Police found the carcasses of deer and peacock close by.

The peacock is the national bird and a protected species in India, and hunting them carries a penalty of up to seven years in jail.