Lucknow, Sep 2 (IANS) A leopard has killed a seven-year-old boy in a village adjoining the Katarniaghat forest reserve in Uttar Pradesh's Bahraich district, an official said Thursday.

The body of seven-year-old Akash, a resident of Lakkhabagh village in Bahraich, some 270-km from Lucknow, was found on the outskirts of the village late Wednesday evening.

'It appears that it was an adult leopard that killed the boy. Though the exact location of the leopard is yet to be ascertained, it is hiding somewhere in the sugarcane fields of the village,' Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) R.K. Singh told reporters Thursday in Bahraich.

According to villagers, the leopard early Wednesday attacked the boy while he was sleeping outside his house.

'Forest officials are camping in the village. We have instructed the locals not to sleep outside their houses till the leopard returns to its natural habitat. Efforts are on to drive the leopard towards the forest,' said Singh.

Katarniaghat is home to at least 32 leopards.