A woman and her daughter were stabbed to death, allegedly by their house help, at a flat in Dhaka’s Mohammadpur this morning.

The victims have been identified as Layla Afroze, 48, wife of AZ Azizul Islam, and Nafisa Lawal Binte Aziz, 15, a ninth grader, said Abdullah Al Mamun, assistant commissioner of police of the Mohammadpur zone.

The incident occurred on the eighth floor of an apartment on Shahjahan Road. “We rushed to the spot after receiving information about the murders,” he said.

A relative of the victims alleged that a house help may have stabbed them.

The bodies were found lying in a pool of blood inside the flat, the relative added.

Noorem Mahpara, a cousin of Nafisa, said the victims were alone at home at the time of the incident, while Nafisa’s father, Azizul, a teacher at an English-medium school, was at his workplace.

CCTV footage shows the house help, who had joined the work only four days earlier, fled the apartment wearing Nafisa’s school uniform, she claimed.

“We do not know the motive behind the murders. Police are investigating,” she added.

Police said further details would be shared after an initial investigation.