KARACHI, Oct 2: More than a dozen women here on Wednesday demanded that Karachi police hand over the bodies of two Arab men killed in a shootout last month, in which key Al Qaeda suspect Ramzi al Shibh was arrested.

The women went first to a mortuary and then to police to retrieve the bodies of the unidentified foreigners so they could be buried according to Islamic custom.

“We are Muslims and they were our Muslim brothers who have been killed by American agents,” one of the women, Um-i-Ismail, said outside the police station.

Ms Ismail vowed to launch a protest if the bodies were not handed over for burial.

“They were Mujahid and should have been buried by now,” she said. Another woman, who refused to say who she was, said she came out of “Islamic duty.”

The two men, alleged members of Al Qaeda, were killed after a three-hour shootout at an apartment in Defence area on Sept 11.

Senior police investigator Fayyaz Leghari said police refused to hand over the bodies because the women were not related to the deceased.

“We can not hand over the bodies to anyone. It has to be to someone related to them,” he added.

Yemeni national Ramzi al Shibh, along with four other foreigners, was flown out of Pakistan in US custody on Sept 16 to an undisclosed location.—AFP