MULTAN, Oct 20: Police on Thursday arrested five men accused in a gang-rape case that has evoked comparisons with Mukhtaran Mai, a rape victim who has become an icon for international human rights groups.

The men, accused of raping a 24-year-old university student in Kabirwala, had their bail applications rejected by a court and were taken into custody, said Rashid Rehman of the Pakistan Human Rights Commission.

The woman and her mother, who was also abducted with her in August, had named 13 assailants. A total of six men are in custody, and the others have absconded, Mr Rehman said.

The accused were said to have committed the rape in retaliation for one of their womenfolk eloping with a relative of the student, who belongs to a low caste family.—Agencies