Two Afghan Men Arrested After Reportedly Beheading Teen Girl Who Refused Their Marriage Proposals

A young girl has reportedly been beheaded by relatives in Afghanistan after she refused to accept their marriage proposals. The teen, named Gisa, was decapitated with a knife on Tuesday, police say. Following the gruesome crime, two men named Sadeq and Massoud -- purportedly close relatives who live near the victim -- have been arrested.

After going to get water at a nearby well, the young girl was purportedly attacked by the men and murdered. Prior to the incident, Gisa's father told both Sadeq and Massoud that they could not marry the teen, as his daughter was too young.

"Our investigation shows those who killed her were people who wanted to marry her," police confirmed in an interview with the BBC.

"People were harassing the family and asking for her hand. When she refused, they did this to her," added a police official.

Media accounts have differed surrounding the girl's exact age, but most agree that she was either 14 or 15. Details continue to be unclear surrounding the exact events that led to the beheading.

Afghanistan continues to experience gender-specific crimes. The Sun provides a recap of some other troubling events that have unfolded in recent months:

Extreme violence against women and girls remains a major problem in the conservative Muslim nation more than a decade after Coalition troops brought down the notoriously brutal Taliban regime.

Earlier this month, four policemen were jailed for 16 years for raping a young woman in the same province.

Last month a 20-year-old woman was beheaded by her husband’s family in the western province of Herat after she refused to become a prostitute, police said.

Four people were arrested over the brutal killing.

And in September, five people were arrested over the public flogging of a 16-year-old girl for allegedly having an affair.

Officials are investigating Gisa's murder, as outrage over the crime continues.