Frightened villagers in Sierra Leone are attacked by wild bush cows, prompting paramilitary police to offer protection.

Police say the cows attacked villagers homes and gored a farmer to death.

Fuk Daboh, a local police chief in the Bo district of the West African country, tells Reuters, "We were at our police post when about 10 villagers reported they had been terrorized by a number of bush cows." He adds, "We wasted no time and travelled to the area where we met hundreds of the villagers fleeing to safety ... We found the corpse of a farmer."

Bush cows have short horns and large ears. They are smaller than the savannah buffalo, but are known to be destructive and very ferocious.

Attacks on villagers by wild animals is common in Sierra Leone, particularly in places where humans have recently settled.

Last November, soldiers fatally shot a six-foot leopard after it killed two people and menaced villagers for a period of weeks.