Agartala, March 17 (IANS): A 55-year-old tribal woman was killed by her neighbours in Tripura for allegedly practising witchcraft, police said here on Tuesday.

Kanyapati Debbarma, a mother of three children, was shot dead from a close range at Shyamraichara in Kamalpur, Dhalai district in northern Tripura on Monday night.

"A group of youths stormed into the house of Kanyapati and shot her dead on the spot while she was cooking. The victim's husband and children were not at home at the time of incident," a police official said.

Police arrested two youths on the basis of the statement of the victim's husband, who told the police that the neighbours always rebuked his wife alleging that she practised witchcraft.

The practice of branding women as witches and torturing them continues in remote, rural and tribal areas of Assam, Tripura and other northeastern states.

In the last few years, more than 50 women have been tortured and beaten on suspicion of practising witchcraft or black magic in Tripura.