American woman gang-raped in India

A 30-year-old American woman has been gang-raped in India in the latest in a series of sexual assaults on foreigners in the country.

The attack follows a sexual assault and alleged rape of an Irish gap year student in Calcutta in the last week, the gang rape of a Swiss cyclist in Madhya Pradesh in March and the sexual harassment of a British woman who jumped from her second floor hotel room to escape an assault by the manager in the early hours of the morning.

Police said the woman had been staying in Manali, a popular backpackers' destination in the Himalayan foothills and was returning from a nearby hot spring when she accepted a lift from a trucker after failing to find a taxi.

Instead of taking her to Manali, the driver took her more than ten miles in a different direction where he and two other men raped her.

A spokesman for the United States embassy in New Delhi said it was aware of the case but could not comment. "We are in contact with the authorities but due to issues of privacy we have no further comment," he said.

Superintendent Vinod Kumar Dhawan of Kullu police said the victim was in a state of shock.