A 21-year-old woman was genitally mutilated by her husband in a barbaric attack that nearly left her dead and caused her to lose her unborn child.

The woman, who was six months pregnant, is in hospital after the violent incident, which took place in the Takhar province in north Afghanistan.

Her husband hit her with a large wooden stick, shaved parts of her head and used scissors to cut her hair, the victim told the BBC.

She said she did not know the reason for the attack, in which her husband’s mother and sister helped him to tie her up with rope and beat her.

Her family members confirmed the nature of her injuries to the broadcaster and said her husband had cut part of her genitals.

The victim’s husband “tortured her first and then called us to tell us: ‘I have killed your daughter, come and take her’,” said the victim’s mother, reported Tolo News.

Documented cases of violence against women in Afghanistan are increasing, according to a 2015 UK Foreign Office report into human rights and democracy in the country.

The report said 5,132 cases of violence had been reported to the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission last year, including 241 murders.

Afghanistan passed a law to eliminate violence against women in 2009, but its implementation has been poor, according to Human Rights Watch.

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Local police in Takhar said her husband was on the run, and told Tolo News the police were searching for three people in connection to the attack, including the husband.

Two of the suspects could now be in Kabul, a police spokesperson said.