Pakistani woman dies after jilted suitor douses her in petrol and sets her ablaze

As many as 1,000 women have been murdered in honour killings in the past year, women's campaigners and charities claim

Doctors had hoped Ms Bibi would recover (AFP)

A Pakistani woman has died after a jilted suitor doused her in petrol and set her ablaze.

Sonia Bibi, 20, suffered serious burns over 45 to 50 per cent of her body after her former boyfriend, Latif Ahmed, allegedly attacked her in the Multan district, in the central Punjab province of Pakistan.

Although doctors at the Nishtar hospital thought they would be able to save the woman, Ms Bibi’s wounds had become infected and she died overnight, AFP reported on Tuesday.

Sonia Bibi was attacked by a man she chose not to marry (AFP)

It is believed she was attacked after she refused to marry Mr Ahmed.

She is the latest casualty in a country where approximately 1,000 women were murdered last year alone. International aid organisations and charities suspect this figure may dramatically underrepresent the true cost as many so-called “honour killings” are never reported.

The Aurat Foundation, which works to help empower women and tackle gender-based violence, claims more than 3,000 women have been killed in similar attacks since 2008.

In 1999, the murder of Samia Sarwar made international headlines after the mother-of-two was shot dead in an attack that was believed to have been orchestrated by her own family.

Ms Sarwar had run away from her violently abusive husband, and had filed for divorce when she was killed in the offices of two women’s rights campaigners.