India, Jan. 7 -- Six people, including four members of the same family, were killed late on Tuesday in separate elephant attacks in the Noamundi area of West Singhbhum district, officials said on Wednesday, underscoring the rising human-wildlife conflict linked to growing human encroachment into forest areas.

A day earlier, on Monday night, another tusker had killed three members of a family in Goelkera, also in West Singhbhum. Forest department officials said that at least 17 people have died in elephant attacks in the district in the past seven days, even as repeated attempts to drive the animals away from human settlements have so far failed.

A forest official familiar with the incident said fear gripped the entire Jeteya police stat...