MANSEHRA: A minor girl was sexually assaulted and her body thrown into a ditch here at Datta area on Wednesday, residents and hospital sources said.

They said that the girl, 5, had gone missing at about 11:00am and the family found her body dumped near their home in the evening.

“The body was found in the evening,” said Ayaz Ahmad, maternal uncle of victim. He said that the assailants had strangled the minor to death. “We have no enmity with anybody, but my niece was killed brutally,” said Mr Ahmad.

He said that father of the victim, Mohammad Farooq, was a sepoy in Pakistan Air Force. The body was taken to King Abdullah Teaching Hospital for autopsy where doctors confirmed that she was sexually assaulted.

FOREST OWNERS: Former opposition leader in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Shahzada Gustasib Khan was elected president of Hazara Forest Owners Association in a meeting here on Wednesday.

Mr Khan returned unopposed, while Manzoor Shah Tirmazi was elected general secretary, Nawaz Khan senior vice-president, Ayaz Khan vice-president, Abid Ali secretary information and Khan Bahadar treasurer of the association for the next two years. Gustasib Khan claimed that they would work for protection of the forests from timber smugglers.

Published in Dawn, June 19th, 2014