A five-year-old girl in the town of Besham Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Shangla district was allegedly raped and strangled by a suspected repeat offender, police told DawnNews on Wednesday.

District Police Officer (DPO) Besham Rahatullah Khan said that the girl had gone missing from her house in the morning but her body was found wrapped in three sacks around 4pm near the residence of the 55-year-old suspect.

The young girl's body was taken to the Tehsil Headquarter Hospital Besham but due to unavailability of a female doctor, the case was transferred to District Headquarters Hospital Alpuri for autopsy and a post-mortem examination.

The DPO said that doctors, after the autopsy, held the view that the girl had been raped.

Police filed a First Information Report (FIR) following the autopsy, and the suspect, Jumaraz, was nominated in the FIR and arrested.

Station House Officer (SHO) Habib Syed claimed the suspect had been involved in such cases in the past.

The SHO said the suspect's entire family would be taken in for interrogation because the victim's sandals were recovered from the roof of the suspect's house.

The DPO said a special investigation team headed by Deputy Superintendent Police Besham Bashir Khan had been constituted to investigate the case and ascertain the culprits responsible immediately, for which efforts are underway.