A man killed both of his two wives in Sindh's Jacobabad district on Thursday, in what police said is a case of suspected 'honour killing'.

Police said Sikandar Ali Dasti shot his wives — Laghari, 35, and Zareena, 25 — in the Alipur area. Both women died on the spot.

Police told Dawn that Dasti had suspected his wives separately of having 'illicit relations' with two men, Haq Nawaz and Azizullah, who reside in the same locality.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Sarfaraz Nawaz Shaikh sent a police team headed by SHO Saddar Ayaz Pathan to the murder scene to shift the bodies to the hospital for postmortem.

The accused had fled after committing the crime, police said.

Hundreds of women are murdered every year in Pakistan, often by their own relatives, for going against their families' wishes in matters of love and marriage or for 'threatening' archaic notions of 'honour'.

The perpetrators of these so-called honour killings often walk free because they can seek forgiveness for the crime from another family member.

The Aurat Foundation’s annual report of 2016 showed 7,852 similar cases of violence against women.

According to Saima Munir, who works for the Aurat Foundation, there has been a 70 per cent increase in honour killings in the past year.