LAHORE: The city came face to face with the crime of the most grotesque kind after the recovery on Thursday of three bags carryingthe severedbody parts belonging to a young woman within the radius of a five kilometers around the Kot Lakhpat, the police said.

At around 2pm on Thursday, the Kot Lakhpat police were alerted by the passersby near Chungi Amar Sidhu Bus Stop on Ferozepur Road about the presence of two suspicious bags. One of the passersby reported thathe had seen a human toe coming out of the bag.

The police took possession of the bags within 15 minutes. Later in the evening police got one more call informing them of another unclaimed bag in Township area. The bag yielded more dismembered parts belonging to the same woman, apparently in her mid 30s.

The police said they were waiting for the results of the forensic tests to Ex an approximate time of death, which could take a couple of days. The body parts had apparently been severed by a sharp edged weapon.

`Extreme rage appears to be behind this crime,` Model Town Superintendent of Police (SP) Operations Mustansar Feroze told Dawn.

He said that finger prints of the woman were sent to Nadra for identification and they might respond on Friday (today). He said there were several reports lodged with different police stations of the city pertaining to women either missing or kidnapped and it was impossible to reach a conclusion about theidentity ofthe body.

The SP said initially it seemed to be an honour killing because every part of the body was dismembered with a sharp edged weapon and also stuffed in three bags. He said thewoman could be recognized through herface and theyhad sentherphotographs to all police stations of the city to establish her identity.

`The woman was murdered mercilessly,` said the SP.

Kot Lakhpat SHO Sub-Inspector Sohail Shehzad said a murder case was registered against unidentified person(s).

Township SHO Asif Khan said a number of passersby had gathered after finding a bag in a park near P&D quarters and informed police 15.

He said a team recovered the bag and handed it over to Kot Lakhpat police who registered a murdercase against unidentified person(s).

Investigation In Charge SI Noorul Hasan said they called the Punjab Forensic Science Laboratory team which collected evidence from the spot.

He said the dismembered hands, arms, legs, feet and neck were found in two bags on Ferozepur Road while the torso recovered from Township area. All the body parts were shifted to Jinnah Hospital morgue.

He said swabs were taken for different tests.

In February this year,police had recovered the body of model Areeba from a suit case outside a bus stand and her colleague Toobawas arrested in connection with the murder.

Tooba was arrested with the help of CCTV footage showing her abandoning the suit case in which Areeba`s body was stuffed. The arrested woman also confessed to have killed Areeba and is currently under judicial custody.

In another case in April, police had found the body of model Tahira inside a house in Defense-C.

Believed to be poisoned to death, the model was reported to be divorced by her husband. Tahira was mother of five and her body also bore marks of torture. Police had yet to arrest her killers.