Nine-year-old boy raped, tortured and choked to death in Pakistan

Police in Pakistan's Karachi recovered the body of a nine-year-old boy on Thursday (21 September), who was allegedly raped and tortured to death. The boy was reportedly missing for two days.

A police official said this was the second such incident reported in the area in the past three months and the third in a year. Police were yet to make arrests in the latest rape and murder of the nine-year-old.

Police officials said the boy, a student at a local seminary in Karachi's Saeedabad area, had gone missing on Tuesday (19 September). The parents of the victim filed a missing complaint on Thursday morning after their son did not return home from the seminary for two days, Senior Superintendent of Police of the region Younis Chandio told Dawn newspaper. He added that police found the body when they began investigation in the missing case.

Additional Police Surgeon Dr Qarar Ahmed Abbasi told the publication that the boy was brutally tortured and then choked to death. There were torture marks on different parts of his body, he added.

Chandio said he is leading a special investigation team that has already launched a manhunt for the culprit. They have some "clues" about the suspects in this case, he added.

Chandio also said that another boy was found raped and murdered in the area about three months ago. He did not elaborate if they had any suspects in the case or if the cases were connected.

In September 2016, another case was reported in which a 10-year-old boy's body was found outside the City Courts area, Chandio added. This boy too was raped before being killed.

Meanwhile, police said that the nine-year-old boy's body was sent to Civil Hospital Karachi for a postmortem examination.