A father in a village in southern Afghanistan shot dead his two teenage daughters when they returned home four days after having run away, a police official said Sunday. The father shot the girls, aged 15 and 16, late Saturday in a house in the Nad Ali district of Helmand, district police chief Omerajan Haqmal told dpa.
"The girls had run away with a boy who is an interpreter for foreign soldiers in Helmand four days ago. Police found them on Saturday and took the girls to their family," Haqmal said, adding that the Afghan translator managed to escape.
The father of the family later shot them dead, justifying the act as 'honour killing', the police chief added. "We have arrested the girls' father and we are investigating right now," he said. The police was also looking for the interpreter. Earlier this month, a 22-year-old woman was publicly shot dead by her husband after running away from home in a village north of Kabul. The incident, in which the Taliban was reportedly involved, raised fears of growing violence against woman. So-called honour killings are common in Afghanistan, where many women have been killed over illicit relations or for running away. Under Afghan law, girls and women can face jail sentences for running away from their father or husband.