Angry mob storms police station, shoots Afghan couple who eloped

Kabul: An angry mob lynched a young Afghan couple who had eloped together after storming a police station where they were being held for "immoral acts", officials said on Sunday.

Fateha, an 18-year-old woman who had been forced to marry a man against her wishes, was arrested on Saturday along with her lover Hedayatullah, 19, in the Wama district of the remote eastern province of Nuristan.

"The woman's family believed she had damaged their honour. Together with armed villagers they attacked the police station, took the girl and boy outside and shot them in front of the public," provincial governor Hafiz Abdul Qayyom told AFP.

Abdul Ghafoor Nuristani, a provincial official, accused the police of failing to protect the couple.

Qayyom also said that three policemen were wounded in the incident, into which the government had launched an investigation.