Jaipur, Sep 2 (IANS): A leopard attacked three youths and a shepherd on Monday noon and left them profusely bleeding in a jungle in Kota's Ramganj Mandi area.

The three youths were identified as Arvind, Ashwini and Ravi, who travelled from Madhya Pradesh to Rajasthan to visit the jungle there.

They lost their way while riding a bike and entered a dense jungle where they asked for direction from a shepherd, who rode along with them on their bike.

However, a leopard attacked them on their way by using his claw on their back, face and hands.

The shepherd shooed the leopard with an axe and the latter ran away.

Meanwhile, Arvind and Ravi sustained serious injuries.

Arvind ran to the village to inform nearby locals of the attack.

The forest officials rushed to the location after hearing the news of an attack by a leopard from the locals.

The two youths namely Arvind and Ravi were shifted to a community health centre in an ambulance from where they were referred to Jhalawar.

The third youth Ashwini was searched by the forest team and he was found hiding behind a rock after two hours.

The shepherd also sustained injuries and was rushed to a hospital.

Meanwhile, forest officials said that they had not seen movements by leopards in this location.

Tourists from Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan have been visiting here as the place has a temple and a waterfall. Now we are alerted and are tracking the movement of the leopard, they added.