An 83-year-old Indonesian woman has used a broom to fight off an attack from a Komodo dragon. Komodo National Park official Heru Rudiharto says the 2-meter (6.5-foot) -long giant lizard bit the left hand of Haifha on Tuesday while she was near her house on Rinca island. Haifha, who like many Indonesians uses only one name, hit the giant lizard's nose several times with a broom until it left go of her hand. Her neighbors heard her scream and drove the animal away. It took 20 stiches to repair Haifa's hand. Endangered Komodo dragons are found in the wild in eastern Indonesia.

A Komodo dragon mauled a tour guide in an Indonesian national park on Tuesday, just two weeks after a previous attack there by one of the giant lizards. The reptile, over two metres (6.6 feet) long, appeared when the guide passed its lair while he was trekking with four Indonesian visitors to Rinca island -- one of two Komodo-inhabited islands frequently visited by tourists.