ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Two teenage sisters who had been missing for three days were found dead in Sulaimani's Chamchammal district on Wednesday, a police spokesperson has said, with an arrest warrant issued for their father.

The sisters, aged 17 and 19, were found buried in shallow graves near a cemetery in the village of Braim Agha by the police, local security forces, and criminal evidence teams, Sulaimani police spokesperson Sarkawt Ahmed told Rudaw on Wednesday.

“There was information that the bodies of the two sisters were buried in the village of Braim Agha, in the Shwan sub-district of Chamchammal. Police and security forces and criminal evidence teams immediately entered Braim Agha and found the bodies of the two sisters, which had been put in two 50-centimeter pits, near the village cemetery,” Ahmed said.

An arrest warrant has been issued for the girls' father, who has not answered his phone in three days and whose location is unknown.

"It is too early for the results of the investigation, but it is clear that they were killed. Because their father was responsible for their protection, a warrant for his arrest has been issued," Chamchammal mayor Ramk Ramazan told Rudaw on Wednesday.

After their discovery, the bodies of the two sisters were taken to Chamchammal Hospital, where a medical examination revealed markings from beatings and gunshot wounds, police spokesperson Ahmed said.

“We sent a team to retrieve the dead bodies, and after a medical examination, it was found that they had been beaten," Chamchammal health department's deputy director Sharif Rahim told Rudaw. "The bodies will be transferred to the forensic medicine department in Sulaimani for clarification."

The sisters had a tumultuous relationship with their father, at the very least in the months leading up to their deaths, according to Ahmed. Their parents divorced two months ago, with their father refusing to give up custody of the two young women. The sisters filed a lawsuit against their father at Chamchammal's police station, alleging that he mistreated them. They then sought refuge at a women's shelter in Sulaimani.

The sisters returned to their father a month ago, after he promised their custodian at the shelter that he would take better care of them, Ahmed said. Their bodies were found a few weeks later.

Rudaw