5 women accused of witchcraft killed

Dozens of villagers in eastern India beat five women to death Saturday, accusing them of practising witchcraft and blaming them for a series of misfortunes in the village, police said.

Residents of Kinjia village in Jharkhand state dragged the women out of their homes and beat them with sticks and iron rods, said Arun Kumar Singh, a deputy inspector general of police in Ranchi, Jharkhand’s capital.

Police have arrested about 50 people involved in the attack, Singh said.