Afghan woman killed, apparently for bearing a girl

Kabul: Officials say an Afghan man has strangled his wife to death, apparently because she gave birth to a second daughter rather than the son he had hoped for.

The police chief for Khanabad district in Kunduz province says the man fled the area last week after his 22-year-old wife was found dead in her house. Medical examiners said the woman was strangled.

Police Chief Sufi Habibullah says they have the man's mother in custody because she appears to have collaborated in a plot to kill her daughter-in-law.

Provincial women's affairs chief Nadira Ghya said the victim had warned family members that her husband had threatened to kill her if she gave birth to another daughter.