Afghan soldier stabs sister in ‘honour killing’

KUNDUZ, Afghanistan: An Afghan soldier stabbed his teenage sister to death after she rejected a marriage proposal arranged by her family, police said Tuesday, in what appears to be a so-called "honour killing".

The 18-year-old woman was killed Monday in Baharak district of the northeastern province of Badakhshan by her brother, who later fled to a Taliban-controlled area, provincial police spokesman Sanaullah Rohani told AFP.

Rohani said the victim was first strangled by a rope and then stabbed to death. "Her brother has fled to a Taliban-controlled area, and the police have launched a search operation to arrest him," Rohani said. A women´s rights activist from Badakhshan confirmed the murder. The victim wanted to marry a man she loved but her family wanted her to marry someone else, activist Asifa Karimi said.