Pakistan child rapist believed to be serial killer

Pakistan police are continuing their hunt for a serial killer who they say raped and murdered a seven-year-old girl in Kasur, a city in eastern Pakistan.

The girl named Zainab, who was being looked after by her uncle while her parents were away on a pilgrimage, went missing on Thursday last week, adding to a list of at least 11 similar cases in the last one year.

"The rapist or the murderer is a serial killer. In the previous incidents the forensic evidence also determines it and modus operandi way of carrying out such acts also determines it," spokesperson of Punjab province - where Kasur is located - Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan, told reporters.

He added they now have a suspect after interrogating 96 people, and have formed a special team to find the perpetrator as soon as possible.

Preliminary examination of her body - that was recovered from a garbage dump Tuesday - revealed rape before she was killed, and led to violent protests in Kasur, during which two people died and several acts of vandalism took place.

In August 2015, 19 minors were recorded on video and photographed by a network of 17 people in Ganda Singh Wala, which falls in Kasur area.

In April 2016, an anti-terrorism court sentenced the two accused to life imprisonment.

In March 2016, Pakistan passed a law against sexual abuse of minors and child pornography, making it punishable by up to seven years in prison.