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Pakistani Police Say All Suspects Arrested In Brutal Killing Of Schoolteacher


Grandmother of Maria Bibi, 19, who was tortured and set alight, mourns next to her body in an ambulance outside a hospital in Islamabad on June 1.
Grandmother of Maria Bibi, 19, who was tortured and set alight, mourns next to her body in an ambulance outside a hospital in Islamabad on June 1.

Police in Pakistan have announced that all five suspects in the brutal killing of a 19-year-old schoolteacher earlier this week are now in custody.

Maria Bibi was tortured, doused with gasoline, and set on fire on May 30 for refusing to marry a man twice her age.

Before she died, Maria Bibi had given a statement to police, saying five attackers had stormed her house in the town of Upper Dewal, dragged her to an open area and kicked her as though she were a "football."

She was brought to Islamabad hospital in critical condition and later died. The attackers fled after the assault.

On June 3, police said that three more suspects in the case were arrested early in the morning, following the two arrests made the day before.

The case has shocked the country, even though violence against women is not uncommon in Pakistan, where nearly 1,000 women are killed each year in so-called honor killings.

Based on reporting by AP and AFP
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