Police have obtained DNA samples from 12 suspects in the investigation into the rape and murder of a three-year-old girl in Karachi’s Quaidabad area, officials said on Thursday.

According to the Karachi police surgeon, the suspects include several close relatives of the victim. The samples have been collected for forensic analysis as investigators seek to identify those responsible for the crime.

The police surgeon said the exact cause of death has been withheld until final forensic and medical reports are completed.

The development comes a day after the body of three-year-old Kulsoom Bibi was found in a sack in Quaidabad following her alleged abduction from near her home.

According to the victim’s father, the child went missing around noon on Tuesday. After hours of searching and making public appeals for information through a motorcycle-mounted loudspeaker, he returned home around sunset and learned that his daughter’s body had been discovered.

Police registered a case at Quaidabad police station on the complaint of the victim’s father. The FIR includes charges of kidnapping, rape and murder.

The incident prompted a high-level response from law enforcement authorities.

Sindh Interior Minister Ziaul Hassan Lanjar, Inspector General of Police Sindh Javed Alam Odho, and senior Karachi police officials took notice of the case and ordered a comprehensive investigation.

A special inquiry committee headed by the DIG East has been formed to examine all aspects of the case. The committee includes officers from the Special Investigation Unit (SIU), Malir police, Special Branch and the investigation wing.

Police said all available resources have been mobilised to identify and arrest the perpetrators, while the investigation continues on multiple fronts.