By Hamza Ameer

Islamabad, May 20 (IANS): The police in Pakistans Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province have launched a search operation to find the culprits behind the brutal murder of two teenage girls, who were killed in North Waziristan last week.

The teenage girls named Jasima Bibi and Saeeda Bibi were sisters and belonged to the Garyum village in North Waziristan. In a 44-second video that surfaced recently, the two girls were filmed kissing a man.

After the video went viral, both the girls were brutally murdered by unknown assailants.

Police authorities suspect the twin murders to be a case of honour killing, adding that the viral video may have been shot about a year ago.

"The video that may have prompted the killings was shot a year ago, but had only recently been uploaded on social media," said North Waziristan police chief Shafiullah Gandapur.

Till now, the police have arrested the man who was filmed kissing the girls in the video clip along with a friend who uploaded the video on social media. However, authorities believe that the murder suspects may have fled to Karachi.

The police have also taken one of the girl's father and uncle into custody on suspicion of concealment of murder evidence.

The family and relatives of the girls did not want to register a case because of the difficult local traditions, which is why the police themselves became a complainant in the case.

While on one side manhunt for the culprits continues, conflicting reports circulated by the authorities about the arrest and confession to the murder has raised concerns about the scope of the investigation and tracking down the murderers.

The police have recently claimed that they have arrested two men in connection with the case, who have confessed to the crime.

"Both the men have confessed to killing the girls," police officer Muhammad Nawaz had said on Monday.

The police also claimed that one of the men was the father of the first victim and the other was the brother of the second, who allegedly killed the girls after seeing the video on social media.

"The girls were gunned down in Garuym village in North Waziristan and buried by family members," said Nawaz.

"We are still searching for two other suspects who are believed to have been involved in the killings," added Nawaz.

The case has become a major challenge for the authorities as honour killing remains above the law. Pakistan has been urged by international bodies and human rights groups to take immediate and tangible action to curb the ever-increasing cases of honour killings in the country.