The killers who came in from the forest: Two wild elephants invade Indian city and gore security guard to death in three-hour rampage

The raging elephants left a trail of destruction across a suburb of the city of Mysore, in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, after they wandered in from a nearby forest.

One man, a 55-year-old security guard from the Bamboo Bazaar district, was trampled to death after he came out of his house to see what was going on.

Rampage: A wild elephant gores a security guard in Mysore, in the southern Indian state of Karnataka

Footage shown on New Delhi Television news shows the body of the man at the feet of one of the animals being repeatedly gored, butted and trampled into a doorway.

The footage also shows an elephant angrily butting a cow.

'One of them even entered a market place and crushed a man to death within minutes.'

Karnataka state higher education minister S.A. Ramdas told the AFP news agency the elephants entered the city from a nearby forest early in the morning.

One elephant barged into a women's college compound and stalked the grounds, while the other wreaked havoc in a residential area.

Schools and colleges were closed for the day, said Mr Ramdas, and extra police were deployed as forest rangers while staff from Mysore zoo tried desperately to contain the animals.

One of the elephants also attacked a cow after it wandered into the city from a nearby forest

The cow is thrown up into the air as it is butted by the elephant. Officials ordered residents to stay indoors and urged them not to throw stones at the elephants for fear of provoking them further