Authorities are trying to identify a pregnant woman, whose charred body was found in a garbage container in Ruseifa at dawn on Sunday.
The victim, whose age was estimated to be between 17 and 23 by coroner Ibrahim Obeidat, was found in the dumpster with her stomach cut open with a knife, according to a senior official source close to the investigation.
Obeidat, who was called to the scene by the police, established that the woman had been murdered in another location and then dumped in the container in a Ruseifa neighbourhood, around 15km east of Amman.
“The fact that she was pregnant and her stomach was cut open is a strong indication that she was killed for reasons related to family honour,” the source told The Jordan Times.
Quoting eyewitnesses, another source said that two men driving a truck approached the garbage container, dumped a body and then set the container ablaze after pouring in a flammable substance.
“Police were able to lift fingerprints from one of her hands that was not affected by the fire and are currently reviewing their missing persons' files,” the source added.
A team of government pathologists comprising Zeid Azzeh and Adnan Abbas performed an autopsy on the victim and established that she was set ablaze after she was murdered, a senior medical source said, adding that the woman’s throat had been slit which was the cause of her death.
“The forensic examiners also established that the foetus, which was also burnt, was four-months-old,” the medical source told The Jordan Times.
By Rana Husseini
