Relatives yet to identify body of woman

The body of a woman, believed by police to be the 26th victim of the unsolved Accra serial killings, remains unidentified at Police Hospital Mortuary three days after she was found dead.

"The situation is hampering efforts of the police to perform a coroner's inquest into what caused the demise of the victim," a source at the District Police Command told the Ghana News Agency on Thursday in Accra.

According to the source, an inquest can only be conducted in the presence of relative of a deceased unless the state deems it necessary to act otherwise. Last Tuesday residents at Ogbojo, near Madina in Accra found the body of the woman, believed to be in her early 30s.

This was the 26th unsolved killing of a woman in Accra during the past two and half years. Police say similarities in the killings led them to think that one person or one group committed the crimes.

The police have made no arrest in the cases. In the early hours last Tuesday, residents in the area found the woman's body half-naked in a black skirt and top, with her torn panties lying by her side. Her height was about 5 feet, 3 inches. The police asked anyone who might know the woman to contact the nearest police station.