Pakistani police: 4 young people killed over ‘family honour’

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – Police in northwestern Pakistan say four cousins were shot dead over “family honour” on the orders of a village council.

District police chief Raja Abdus Saboor said Sunday that police have arrested one man involved in the killings and are searching for others. The four victims, two men and two women, were 18 to 21 years old. Their bodies were found on Friday near their remote mountain village.

More than 1,000 women are killed every year in the conservative, Muslim-majority country over suspicions they engaged in relationships that went against the family’s wishes. The so-called “honour killings” are often carried out by the women’s own relatives.

In 2012, five women were killed in the same region for cheering male dancers during a wedding.