Three Women In Same Family Killed For 'Honor' In Pakistan

File photo of Pakistani women protesting against rape and honor killings.

A man in Pakistan has allegedly gunned down his wife, mother-in-law, and a female cousin over suspicions they were having relations with other men, police say.

The killings were carried out on May 11 with the help of two accomplices in the Balochni area of Faisalabad in the eastern province of Punjab, police said.

"Three women were killed for honor as the accused suspected that they were in relationships," local police chief Mushtaq Ahmad told dpa.

The suspects were all on the run, and police said they had launched a manhunt.

So-called honor killing by male relatives is widespread in Pakistan, most often targeting women believed to be in extramarital relationships, or who marry against their family's wishes.

Last week, police arrested more than a dozen men in the Abottabad district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province after village elders authorized the killing of a teenage girl for allegedly helping a friend to run away with a boy and marry him.

Based on reporting by dpa and AFP