Police prevent family from committing suicide

KUNDUZ CITY (Pajhwok): Police on Wednesday claimed preventing nearly a dozen members of a family from committing suicide in northern Kunduz province.

Police spokesman Syed Sarwar Hussaini told Pajhwok Afghan News the family cited abject poverty as a reason behind the extreme step they wanted to take. 

He said the mother showered herself and other members of her impoverished family with fuel and wanted to set themselves on fire but police reached the scene and thwarted their bid.

Sources said the family patriarch had left home six months ago after slipping into drug addiction. The incident comes after a family reportedly sold two children for 1,000 afghanis in Chahbahar district due to poverty.

nh/ma