( CNN ) -- A woman in rural Papua New Guinea was bound and gagged , tied to a log and set ablaze on a pile of tires this week , possibly because villagers suspected her of being a witch , police said Thursday . Her death adds to a growing list of men and women who have been accused of sorcery and then tortured or killed in the South Pacific island nation , where traditional beliefs hold sway in many regions . The victims are often scapegoats for someone else 's unexplained death , and bands of tribesmen collude to mete out justice to them for their supposed magical powers , police said . `` We have had difficulties in a number of previous incidents convincing people to come forward with information , '' said Simon Kauba , assistant commissioner of police and commander of the Highlands region , where the killing occurred . `` We are trying to persuade them to help . Somebody lost their mother or daughter or sister Tuesday morning . '' Early Tuesday , a group of people dragged the woman , believed to be in her late teens to early 20s , to a dumping ground outside the city of Mount Hagen . They stripped her naked , bound her hands and legs , stuffed a cloth in her mouth , tied her to a log and set her on fire , Kauba said . `` When the people living nearby went to the dump site to investigate what caused the fire , they found a human being burning in the flames , '' he said . `` It was ugly . '' The country 's Post-Courier newspaper reported Thursday that more than 50 people were killed in two Highlands provinces last year for allegedly practicing sorcery . In a well-publicized case last year , a pregnant woman gave birth to a baby girl while struggling to free herself from a tree . Villagers had dragged the woman from her house and hung her from the tree , accusing her of sorcery after her neighbor suddenly died . She and the baby survived , according to media reports . The killing of witches , or sangumas , is not a new phenomenon in rural areas of the country . Emory University anthropology professor Bruce Knauft , who lived in a village in the western province of Papua New Guinea in the early 1980s , traced family histories for 42 years and found that one in three adult deaths were homicides -- `` the bulk of these being collective killings of suspected sorcerers , '' he wrote in his book , `` From Primitive to Postcolonial in Melanesia and Anthropology . '' In recent years , as AIDS has taken a toll in the nation of 6.7 million people , villagers have blamed suspected witches -- and not the virus -- for the deaths . According to the United Nations , Papua New Guinea accounts for 90 percent of the Pacific region 's HIV cases and is one of four Asia-Pacific countries with an epidemic . `` We 've had a number of cases where people were killed because they were accused of spreading HIV or AIDS , '' Kauba said . While there is plenty of speculation why Tuesday 's victim was killed , police said they are focused more on who committed the crime . `` If it is phobias about alleged HIV/AIDS or claims of a sexual affair , we must urge the police and judiciary to throw the book at the offenders , '' the Post-Courier wrote in an editorial . `` There are remedies far , far better than to torture and immolate a young woman before she can be judged by a lawful system . ''
Woman suspected to be witch in Papua New Guinea burned alive . Death adds to growing list of people accused of sorcery tortured or killed . Victims are often scapegoats for someone else 's unexplained death .