A 13-year-old girl, who was found dead under mysterious circumstances in her house in Quetta's Killi Ismail area on Sunday, was murdered by her own brother, police said on Monday.

The victim's sibling had claimed on Sunday that he had left the house for about 30 minutes and upon return, he found his sister strangled with her scarf (dupatta).

According to Quetta's Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Abdul Razzaq Cheema, however, the brother on Monday confessed to murdering his sister after attempting to rape her.

The DIG said that the blood samples of the accused are being sent to Lahore for forensic analysis, adding that the police will present the accused in court today to secure his remand.

Earlier, the accused had told newsmen: "When I came back from bazar, I found my sister dead inside a room of our house. She was alone at the time of the incident. My mother and [other] sister have gone to Punjab."

Soon after, a high-level police investigation team — comprising senior officers from the special branch, counter-terrorism department and crime branch — was formed to probe the case.

Chief Minister Mir Quddus Bizenjo had also taken notice of the incident and ordered the DIG to submit a report in this regard.

Since the beginning of 2018, there has been a marked upsurge in the reporting of sexual abuse cases across Pakistan. The brutal rape and murder of Zainab Ansari in Kasur earlier this month, in particular, shocked the entire country, with #JusticeforZainab becoming the rallying cry in a nationwide drive to end violence against children.