Trans Woman Murdered and Dismembered in Pakistan

Police in Peshawar, Pakistan, have arrested two suspects in the killing and dismemberment of a transgender woman, with one found carrying a shopping bag containing the victim's body parts.

The victim, identified only as Nazo, was shot to death late Thursday, and her body was then "hacked to pieces," Radio Free Europe reports, citing an interview that Police Superintendent Cantt Waseem Riaz gave to Pakistani media.

A police patrol apprehended one suspect, Muhammad Farooq, Friday; he was carrying the bag of body parts, according to The Express Tribune, a Pakistani newspaper. He told police that a friend of his, identified only as Sadaqat, killed Nazo during an argument. She had refused to continue her relationship with him. He has now been arrested as well, Pakistani newspaper Dawn reports.

Dozens of Pakistani transgender activists protested today outside the Peshawar Press Club, chanting, "We want protection, we want respect and rights," the Associated Press reports.

Transgender groups said 62 trans people have been murdered since 2015 in just one of the nation's provinces, Khyber Pakhtunkhawa, of which Peshawar is the capital. There have been 479 attacks on trans people in the province this year, activists added.

The latest reported attack came Sunday in the city of Mansehra, according to Dawn. A trans woman said she was beaten in her home by a man named Bilal and several of his relatives. She had several bruises and was treated at a local hospital. However, the mother of the primary suspect, Bilal, has claimed he was the victim and the trans woman the perpetrator.