A herd of seven wild elephants continued destroying crops in Natun Samanbag tea garden area of Barlekha upazila under the district for the last couple of days, much to the worry of locals.

After destroying paddy plants and vegetables at night, elephants return to deep forest in the morning, said Mohon Santal, a local.

Amid the situation, male people started guarding the crop fields in the tea garden area while many women and kids are moving to safer places.

"Holding sticks, small groups of people are guarding their houses and fields at night to ward off possible attack by elephants," said Monoronjon Das, a tea worker of the garden.

Visiting the area on Monday, this correspondent saw that paddy plants in large area are already destroyed by wild elephants.

"We have been living here for generations, but elephants didn't disturb us before," said Charan Bunarjee, a tea worker.

Md Ali Khan, manager of Natun Samanbag tea garden, and Azir Uddin, chairman of Dakkhinbag union parishad, admitted that elephants are destroying crops in the area.