International- A group of monkeys attacked a 10-year-old boy in India.
- The animals ripped out the boy's intestines and killed him.
A 10-year-old boy has died in western India after being attacked by monkeys, the latest in a string of monkey attacks in the area.
The child, identified as Dipak Thakor, was playing with friends near a temple in Salki, a village in Gujarat, when the attack took place, according to Indian news agency the Press Trust of India.
An official told the news agency that the monkeys ripped out the boy's intestines.
"His intestine was ripped out in the attack. He rushed to his house and was taken to a hospital where doctors declared him dead on arrival. This is the third attack by monkeys in the village within a week," the official said.
Forest official Vishal Chaudhary said that authorities had been trying to catch monkeys around the village following three attacks in the past week.
"There is a large troop of monkeys in the village, including four adults who have been involved in attacks in the past one week. Two of them have been rescued. Efforts are on to cage another," Chaudhary said, per PTI.
He said that two langurs have been caught, and cages are set up to trap a third.
There have been several incidents of monkey attacks across India in recent years.
Earlier this year, a monkey with a bounty of ₹ 21,000, or around $250, on its head was caught after attacking 20 people in Madhya Pradesh over a two week period.
Another two monkeys were captured in India's Maharashtra state in 2021 under suspicion of murdering up to 250 puppies by carrying them to the tops of trees and rooftops before dropping them.
While monkeys aren't aggressive by nature, attacks aren't uncommon in India, particularly in areas where they live in close proximity to humans and might feel threatened or used to receiving food.