At least two paramilitary personnel were killed and eight injured in separate lightning strikes in the north-eastern state of Tripura, officials here said Saturday. "A Border Security Force (BSF) jawan Subhash Singh, 48, of Allahabad died on the spot and three troopers were seriously injured when lightning struck at Bhabanipur, 60 km west of here," an official said.

He said another lightning strike killed a Tripura State Rifles (TSR) personnel Dhirendra Malakar, 45, and injured another jawan at the Dhalai district headquarter town of Ambassa, 90 km north of here.

In yet another incident, four security personnel were seriously injured when lightning struck at Sabroom in south Tripura.

All the incidents took place Friday night when lightning and thunder, accompanied by high winds, lashed the state damaging standing crop and pulling down electric poles and telephone lines.