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A 17-year-old Iraqi girl has been murdered by her father in an "honour killing" after falling in love with a British soldier in Basra.
Rand Abdel-Qader was killed after her family discovered she had formed a friendship with a 22-year-old infantryman she knew as Paul.
Rand was suffocated by her father and then hacked at with a knife. He called out that his honour was being cleansed, her mother said.
The father was arrested, held for two hours, then released without charge. "Not much can be done when we have an honour killing," said Sergeant Ali Jabbar of Basra police. "You are in a Muslim society and women should live under religious laws."
Rand's mother, who divorced her husband after the killing, is now in hiding from her family and being looked after by a local charity. "She has been threatened by her husband's family and is very scared," said a charity spokeswoman.
A Ministry of Defence spokesman said there was no official policy on advising troops how to behave with Iraqi women, indicating that Paul would not have been told that their friendship might be putting her life at risk. This is believed to be the first honour killing involving a British soldier.
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