A serial killer may have been responsible for the murder and rape of eight-year-old Zainab Ansari, according to Pakistan authorities.
DNA testing has linked the killing to at least five other cases of child abuse and murder in the city of Kasur in northeast Pakistan, where Ansari was found in a garbage bin last week.
Ansari went missing while heading to a nearby home for Quranic studies. Her body was found on Jan. 9, four days after she was reported missing.
It was the 12th incident of a girl being abducted, raped, and killed in the past year in Kasur district, police say.
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The discovery of the girl’s body ignited clashes between residents and police that killed two people and wounded three others. Residents say the authorities were slow to respond to the girl’s disappearance, charges denied by police.
Authorities said new footage from surveillance cameras showed a man with a thin beard, who resembles police sketches of the suspect, walking near Ansari’s house.
— With files from Reuters