KHULNA, Bangladesh, June 21 (Reuters) - A tiger killed three people in Bangladesh before villagers trapped the animal and beat it to death on Saturday, police said.

The tiger stormed into the village late on Friday, killing the three people, then continued to roam the settlement until panicked villagers regrouped and lured it into a trap.

The incident occurred at a remote village near Shamnagar Police Station, near the Sundarbans mangrove forests, 400 km (250) miles southwest of the capital Dhaka.

The Sundarbans is a UNESCO World Heritage site and home to the Royal Bengal tigers.

"The angry villagers beat the tiger to death," a forest official said. "It was not possible to save it and send it back to the forests as the people were agitated beyond control."

In March tigers killed six people in villages around the Sundarbans.

Forest officials said tigers are probably being forced to hunt outside the Sundarbans because of a scarcity of food after Cyclone Sidr ravaged large parts of the mangrove forests in November last year.

At least 60 percent of the 6,000 sq km (2,320 sq mile) mangrove forests are in Bangladesh, home to more than 400 Royal Bengal tigers. (Reporting by Enamul Haque; Writing by Nizam Ahmed; Editing by David Fogarty)

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