In 'honour killing', mob lynches Afghan couple for eloping

Abdul Ghafoor Nuristani, a provincial official, accused the police of failing to protect the couple

KABUL:
An angry mob stormed a police station in Afghanistan and killed a young couple who had been held there for "immoral acts" after eloping,  officials said Sunday.

Fateha, an 18-year-old woman who had been forced to marry a man against her wishes, was arrested on Saturday along with her partner Hedayatullah, 19, in the Wama district of the remote eastern province of Nuristan.

"The woman's family believed she had damaged their honour. Together with armed villagers, they attacked the police station, took the girl and boy outside and shot them in front of the public," provincial governor Hafiz Abdul Qayyom told AFP.
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Abdul Ghafoor Nuristani, a provincial official, accused the police of failing to protect the couple.


But Qayyom said three policemen were wounded in the incident, into which the government had launched an investigation.

So-called "honour killings" are not uncommon in conservative Afghanistan and relations between men and women outside marriage are strictly controlled under local and Islamic practices, with violations often punishable by death.

More than 15 years after the end of the Taliban regime, Afghanistan is rife with abuse against women, most often perpetrated by families and relatives who are rarely arrested. James Char, a senior analyst at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies in Singapore, said the launch was Pyongyang's "way of showing characteristic defiance against... Trump".

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The latest launch poses a test for Trump, who will need the help of the North's closest ally China to deal with the reclusive state.

Relations have thawed in recent days after Trump reaffirmed Washington's "One China" policy in what he described as a "very warm" telephone conversation with President Xi Jinping.
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