Man kills teenage sister, relative for 'honour' in Pakistan

An 18-year-old girl and a man were gunned down allegedly by her brother in the name of "honour" in Pakistan's Sindh province, police said today.

The two were shot dead with a Kalashnikov automatic rifle in Jacobabad city yesterday, Dawn reported.

The suspect committed the crime over suspicion of an illicit relationship between his sister and his 20-year-old close relative Allah Bakhsh Dahani, senior police officer Jan Muhammad Soomro said.

Police registered a murder case and arrested him.

The suspect confessed that he killed them for "honour", police said.

His father and an unknown person were also named in the case.

Honour killings are a major menace in the rural areas of Pakistan's four provinces of Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhawa.

Eight cases of "honour killings" were registered in Jacobabad - the highest in any district of Sindh over the nine months up to March, the report quoted a recent government study.

A total of 1,643 cases of various types of violent acts - from honour killing to custody of children and maintenance - have been filed by women across the province since July last year, the report added.