African elephants [File photo]?

Poachers in the northern Mozambican province of Niassa have killed 77 elephants in the Niassa Game Reserve this year, state radio reported on Thursday.

Poachers have also cut trees indiscriminately in the reserve, the report said, adding three of them were arrested. The poachers were reportedly the nationals of Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania and Mozambique.

The guards captured 13 illegal panners in the same reserve, where the provincial authorities are intensifying operation to hunt the criminals.