Authorities in Afghanistan on Tuesday said they had witnessed a surge in honour killings of women and female suicides in the past few days.

Reports of violence against women were frequent, but despite the Taliban’s stifling of the media since retaking power last year, there had been a recent rise.

Local officials confirmed that four women were killed in the past three days, and two committed suicide in Faryab, Ghazni, Samangan and Bamyan Provinces.

Shamsullah Mohammadi, the head of the Taliban’s information and culture department in Faryab, told dpa that a man shot dead his sister-in-law for allegedly having illicit relations and then fled.

He added that a young woman committed suicide in the same province for unknown reasons.

In Ghazni Province, a man shot a mother dead and wounded the victim’s daughter after hearing the girl was engaged to someone else.

In a separate incident in Ghazni, a young woman was killed by her brother and cousin after being accused of having sexual relations outside marriage. Her boyfriend was also killed.

Provincial police spokesman, Sayed Ishaq Saleh, confirmed both murders, adding that the culprits involved in the second case had been detained.

Afghan media also reported that a woman had died in hospital after her husband smashed her head with a stone in Samangan Province.

Another young woman committed suicide in the Waras district of Bamyan.

(dpa/NAN)