BREAKING NEWS

Yemeni burns daughter to death for contacting fiance

A Yemeni father has burned his15-year-old daughter to death for keeping in touch with herfiance, police said, sparking further outrage in Yemen, where aneight-year girl died from internal bleeding on her wedding nighta month ago.

Police said a 35-year-old man had been arrested after theteenager's death in a remote village in the central Taizprovince.

"The father committed this heinous crime on the pretext thathis daughter had been keeping contacts with her fiance," thepolice website said on Tuesday, giving no further details.

Some local news websites reported that the father had caughtthe girl chatting by telephone with her fiance.

Traditional tribal customs in parts of Yemen prohibitcontacts between men and women before marriage. Poverty andconcern about "family honour" prompts many Yemenis to marry offtheir daughters young, often below the age of 18, a practicethat has been criticised by international rights groups.