Villagers in a rural part of eastern India have killed five women whom they accused of practising witchcraft, police said Saturday. Police in eastern Jharkhand state said a group of assailants dragged the women out of their huts and beat them to death at around midnight Friday in Kanjia village, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) from state capital Ranchi.
"A group (of villagers) dragged the women out and beat them to death with sticks, accusing them of practising witchcraft," Ranchi deputy police chief Arun Kumar Singh told AFP by phone. Singh added that 24 villagers have been arrested over the killings of the women, who were mostly aged between 45 and 50.