Police in Papua New Guinea's East Sepik province have reported five deaths related to sorcery accusations in the past week.
A village in East Sepik. Photo: Global Witness
The newspaper The National reports that in one of the deaths, a 13-year-old boy was allegedly kidnapped and hanged on Saturday in Angoram.
Police commander Superintendent Albert Beli said the death was related to the murder of a woman and a high school student last week in the same district.
According to him, the deaths are believed to be payback for the death of a man at Angoram in February.
Supt Beli said while the man died from illness, accusations of sorcery had spread through the community about how it was caused.
Three suspects have been charged with wilful murder in relation to the three deaths at Angoram last week.
Meanwhile, Mr Beli said a man and his son were killed on Wewak's east coast yesterday. He said the deaths were also related to sorcery accusations - police are investigating.
Belief in sorcery is widespread in PNG, and people accused of practicing it are sometimes attacked violently or tortured.