India, July 23 -- A five-year-old girl was killed in a leopard attack while sleeping beside her parents in a cattle shed in Pimpalsuti village of Shirur taluka in the early hours of Wednesday, prompting the forest department to launch an intensive operation to trace the animal and step up safety measures in the area.

The family was staying in Pimpalsuti for sugarcane harvesting work.

According to the police, the incident occurred around 2:40 am on July 22 when Bhagyashree was sleeping with her parents inside a cattle shed owned by a local farmer. Following a complaint by the girl's uncle, Babasaheb Kondiba Ware (36), Shirur police registered an accidental death case under Section 194 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS).

In...