Police have discovered the body of a 12-year-old girl in Galkayo, capital of Somalia's Puntland region.

She had been raped and strangled.

Puntland Police Chief told BBC Somali that the young girl's body had been found near her home a day after she disappeared.

"She was running errands for her parents and then she was kidnapped," Gashanle Sare Ahmed said.

Police are investigating the murder and have asked for co-operation from the public.

"Recently a young girl was raped. We tracked down the suspects but unfortunately their families gave them guns and vehicles and told them to escape. If the public is not working with us, there is not much we can do," Mr Ahmed told the BBC.

Although rape is a growing concern in the region, this is the first recorded rape-murder in Puntland, according to the Puntland Human Rights Defender's Office.