Women accused of sorcery hacked to death

AGARTALA, India, March 5 (UPI) -- An elderly woman and her daughter, accused of being sorceresses, were hacked to death in a village in northeastern India, police said Tuesday.

Ajanga Mala Tripura, 65, and her daughter, Puspa Mala Tripura, 35, were killed by three men who accused the women of using black magic to make their father ill, Indo-Asian News Service reported.

Police are seeking the three men who fled after the incident. Their father is already in custody.

A spokeswoman for the Tripura Women's Commission said a fact-finding team has been dispatched to Sakbari village in Tripura state to investigate the killings.

Many women die in tribal areas of northeastern India each year accused of practicing witchcraft and sorcery.