TEHRAN A judicial source in the Khorasan Province Justice Department said that none of the families of the women who have recently been killed in Mashhad are cooperating with the police to find the suspects.

Twelve women, aged between 27 and 50, have been strangled to death with their own headscarves since last July. All had criminal records for drug addiction or prostitution.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said that some of the women's families have welcomed the murders and said the women deserved to be killed. The Persian daily ***** Hambastegi ******** reported on Monday that Information Minister Ali Younessi has been summoned to the Majlis to answer questions about the mysterious murders. The daily quoted Mashhad MP Ali Tajernia as saying that Interior Minister Abdolvahed Mousavi Lari and Law Enforcement Forces Commander Mohsen Qalibaf should also be summoned to the Parliament.

"Those behind the murders are trying to create insecurity in the country," Tajernia told ******* Hambastegi. **********

The Judiciary has named a special task force to investigate the murders. The Majlis Committee for National Security also plans to launch a probe into the murders, according to the daily ***** Iran ******.

******* Jaam-e Jam****** reported that special detectives, handpicked from among the best homicide detectives, have been dispatched to investigate the murders. They will interrogate the two arrested suspects.

Meanwhile, the daily ******* Entekhab ***** quoted an unnamed suspect in the case as saying the killings were carried out by an organized group intending to "clean up" the society.