Islamabad, April 2, (dpa/GNA) – A young midwife has been kidnapped and brutally murdered in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif, in the latest of a series of mysterious deaths that have increased since the Taliban returned to power.
The midwife, Nafisa Balkhi, was called to work on Friday but did not return home during the night, local media reported, citing her family. Her body was found in the city’s hospital on Saturday morning.
According to a Taliban official, the motive was a so-called “honour killing,” where someone, mostly a woman, is murdered usually by a family member for some perceived shame the victim is thought to have brought on the family.
Provincial police spokesman Mohammad Asif Waziri told dpa that the body of the midwife and a man were found in a car in the city’s police district 7. Police said the man’s family had reported him missing.
The families of the victims were under police surveillance, and investigations would begin after the funeral ceremonies ended, Waziri added.
Mysterious killings, especially of young women, have increased across the country in recent months.
Early last month, the bodies of two young women, also mysteriously murdered, were found in Mazar-e-Sharif.
Similar incidents occurred in Kabul, Kandahar, Badghis, Kapisa, and Ghor provinces last month.
The situation of women and girls has deteriorated drastically since the Taliban retook power last year, and imposed harsh restrictions.
Recently the UN Human Rights Council appointed Richard Bennett as special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan.
GNA