NEW DELHI, Aug 18: Intelligence bureau officials claimed that a “face-scratching” prowler terrorizing villagers in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh is an extra-terrestrial being, news reports said on Sunday.

The Times of India quoted officials as saying that videotaped footage of the mysterious attacks against more than 100 people indicated that the region had been invaded by an extra- terrestrial.

A special team of intelligence officials, forensic experts and engineers set up camp in Sitapur after reports from at least three districts of Uttar Pradesh that a “face-scratching” prowler was apparently assaulting people.

In July, a young man, mistaken to be the assailant, was lynched by villagers in Sultanpur district.

The prowler has been described as a person with the face of a dog or a cat, according to reports. Other reports said it is about half a metre tall and can fly. Apparently a red light flashes when it attacks and a green one when it leaves.

Rubbishing the extra-terrestrial theory, professor Chaman Mehrotra of Lucknow University said: “Such things may occur due to atmospheric changes. Someone might have added a dimension of mischief to it by putting a man-made thing in the air.”

In May 2001, New Delhi was in the grips of a similar fear. Two people were killed and many injured when rumours of a “monkey man” attacking residents spread through the city.

After two weeks of panic, the rumour slowly died out in the city. Police only arrested people on charges of rumour-mongering. It remained unclear how the two people died.—dpa