'Witches' family hacked to death

An Indian couple and four of their children were hacked to death by villagers who accused them of practising witchcraft and making their children sick.

The victims were asleep in their mud house when a group of around five people armed with axes broke in. The suspects, believed to be relatives of the family, accused them of being behind a spate of illnesses among infants in their village.

Police reached the village early yesterday to find the mutilated bodies in pools of blood.