Qandeel Baloch: Pakistan social media celebrity ‘killed by brother’

Pakistani social media celebrity Qandeel Baloch has been killed by her brother in an apparent 'honour killing' in the province of Punjab, police say.

Ms Baloch, 26, recently caused controversy by posting controversial pictures of herself on social media, including one with her alongside a Muslim cleric.

Police say she was strangled to death.

Cases of women being killed for 'dishonouring' their family are commonplace in Pakistan.

Qandeel Baloch became a household name for posting bold, sometimes raunchy, photographs, video and comments.

Conservatives condemned her when she posted pictures of herself with a prominent cleric, Mufti Qavi.

Ms Baloch's parents told The Express Tribune that she was strangled to death on Friday night.

"[Her brother] Wasim, 30, killed her last night following an argument," her parents were quoted as saying.

But they said her body was not discovered until Saturday morning.

The actor's parents have been taken into custody, the Tribune reported.

Ms Baloch, described as Pakistan's Kim Kardashian, had gone to Punjab from Karachi because of the threat to her security, police say.

"[Her] brothers had asked her to quit modelling," family sources quoted by the Tribune said.

Sources quoted by the newspaper said that Wasim was upset about her uploading controversial pictures online and had threatened her about it.

Police said he had not been arrested and was on the run.

Hundreds of women are murdered every year in Pakistan in so-called honour killing cases.

Ms Baloch rose to fame in Pakistan in 2014 when a video of her pouting at the camera and asking "How em looking?" went viral.

In a recent interview she was bitterly critical of Pakistan's patriarchal society and described herself as a leading exponent of girl power.

While many younger people saw her as a cultural icon and hailed her liberal views, she was also subjected to frequent misogynist abuse online.

Her request for better security was ignored by the government, Dawn reported, despite pleas made three weeks ago to the interior minister and other senior officials.