An Iraqi teen was butchered to death by her father in an "honor killing" after she befriended and fell in love with a British solider in Basra, the U.K.'s Daily Mail reported.
Rand Abdel-Qader, 17, had confessed to her best friend Zeinab that she had fallen in love with "Paul," a 22-year-old blond haired, honey-eyed soldier she met at a charity event where she did volunteer work, the Mail reported. Upon hearing the news, her father rushed home and began to strangle her while stabbing her repeatedly and screaming that he was “cleansing his honor.”
He was arrested, but Iraqi police have taken no further action. The man's wife, who reportedly tried to stop the killing by calling for her two sons for protection, is now in hiding.
The Ministry of Defense attempted, Sunday night, to find the soldier, saying he does not appear to have done anything wrong by befriending the teen, the Mail reported. There is no evidence that the two shared a physical relationship. "She was proud to be a virgin and had a dream to give herself to the man she loved only after her marriage," Zeinab said.
The teen was buried quickly, without the traditional mourning because she was "deemed impure," the Mail reported. Her uncles reportedly spat on her body as it was being buried.
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