Woman killed for giving birth to a baby girl

An Afghan woman was choked to death by her husband and mother-in-law for delivering a baby girl for the third time in northern Afghanistan, a police spokesman said Monday.

"Storay, a 30-year-old mother of three, was choked to death by her husband and her mother-in-law in a remote village in Khanabad district of Kunduz province," Sayed Sarwar Hussaini told dpa.

"She was told by her husband that if she delivered another baby girl, he would kill her," Hussaini said.

The woman gave birth to the third girl three months ago.

"We have arrested Storay's mother-in-law and we are looking for her husband, too, who is on the run," Hussaini said.

Last month, a teenage girl was rescued by police in the neighbouring province of Baghlan after her in-laws tortured and kept her in a toilet for six months because she refused to prostitute herself.

Rights activists have constantly raised concerns over the treatment of women in Afghan society.

A United Nations report in 2010 said nearly one-third of all Afghan women are exposed to some level of physical and psychological violence and an estimated 25 per cent suffer sexual abuse.