Papua New Guinea police have branded as "barbaric" the murder of a young woman burnt alive after being blindfolded and gagged with her arms and legs lashed to a pole.
The body of the woman, believed aged between 16 and 20, was found on a rubbish tip at Mt Hagen on Tuesday in the notorious Highlands region.
Both PNG's national daily newspapers reported the brutal killing, with witnesses telling each paper a truck with a number of men on board was seen dumping the naked body, pouring petrol on it and setting it alight.
Highlands division police chief Simon Kauba told PNG's Post Courier newspaper he was lost for words.
"I don't know the right words to describe it but it's barbaric... Can you find the best words to describe such acts that are rampant here?" he said.
"We will get to the bottom of it and have the suspects arrested and prosecuted once we have credible information," he said.
Locals told the papers the woman may have been killed due to common accusations of adultery, sorcery or blamed for passing on HIV/AIDS to one of the suspects.
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