Taliban confirm reports of four women killed in northern Afghanistan

Two suspects have been arrested after the four bodies were found at a house in the city's fifth police district

Four women have been found dead in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, a spokesman for Afghanistan's Taliban government said on Saturday, following reports that activists had been killed.

Two suspects have been arrested after the four bodies were found at a house in the city's fifth police district, interior ministry spokesman Qari Saeed Khosti said in a video statement.

“The arrested people have admitted in initial interrogation that the women were invited to the house by them. Further investigations are underway and the case has been referred to court,” he said.

Khosti did not identify the victims, but a source in Mazar-i-Sharif told AFP that at least one of the dead was a women's rights activist, whose family does not wish to speak to the media.

A report on BBC Persian, citing civil society sources, said the four women were friends and colleagues who had hoped to travel to Mazar-i-Sharif airport for a flight out of the country.