The dead rhino Representative image

A male adult rhino was killed and its horn has taken away by poachers in the Kaziranga National Park.

The incident took place at Agaratali range of the national park.

The carcass of the rhino with its horn missing was found by forests guards on Saturday.

A search operation has been launched by the Special Task Force (STF) inside the Kaziranga National Park and its boundary areas to arrest the poachers.

This is the first rhino poaching incident, this year. While 2013-2014 saw 27 poaching incidents each year the figure decreased to 17 in 2015 and 18 in 2016.

In 2017 and 2018, six rhino poaching cases were registered.