The Daily Telegraph By

A Teenage girl in Pakistan was hanged and then set on fire on the orders of her village's leaders after she helped a female friend to elope, police said yesterday (THURSDAY).

In a rare "honour killing" of an accomplice, tribal leaders of the village of Makol, in Abbottabad, made an example of Amber, 16, after she helped her friend Asma to escape with her lover to marry. Amber's charred remains were found in the seat of a van set ablaze outside the village last Friday.

"They decided that to stop 'love marriages' in the area, the helper girl must be punished to set an example for other girls," said district police officer Khurram Rashid. "This is the first ever crime like this in Makol."

Police have promised to take strict action against the 15-member jirga, or village council, that sentenced Amber. Most of its members have been arrested, including Asma's father, Safdar.

Jirgas do not hold legal power in Pakistan, following a Supreme Court ruling in 2013. Amber's body was doused in petrol and set ablaze in an attempt to hide the killing from police.

The act was led by Sardar Pervaz, described by the police as a "notorious" leader of whom the entire village is afraid. Pervaz sent jirga member Sardar Saeed to Amber's home on Friday, where her mother was told to hand over her daughter or face her entire family being burnt alive in their home. Saeed then dragged Amber to another home, where she was drugged and hanged.

Shamim Raisat, Amber's mother, was initially arrested for failing to report the crime, but later said she had been under duress and feared for her remaining family's lives. The suspects will be tried in an anti-terror court.