Two die in 'honour-killings'
2007-02-24 23:22
Islamabad - Two women in Pakistan have been hacked to death by close relatives who suspected them of flirting with neighbours, in a so-called honour killing, police said on Saturday.
Farida, 18, and Hameeda, 20, were asleep when the men attacked them with axes, smashing their heads, in a village in southern Sindh province on Thursday morning, police officer Ghulam Nabi said.
"The girls were asleep in their home when their four uncles attacked them," Nabi told AFP.
"They suspected the victims had bad character and were flirting with men in the village," Nabi said, adding that two of the attackers had been arrested and police were searching for the other two.
The suspects told police the victims, who were not married, were kari (black women) - a term coined for women branded as morally corrupt and liable to be killed in the name of family honour.
Officials say nearly 5 000 people, mostly women, have been killed in rural areas of Pakistan over the past five years in the name of protecting family honour.
- AFP