ACCRA, Ghana (PANA) - Ghanaian authorities have been urged to treat the continuing murders of women in the capital, Accra, as a national crisis and act promptly to apprehend the culprits.

Several groups have in a joint statement also threatened to go on a one-day sit-down strike over the issue and asked the president and parliament to treat it as a national crisis.

The uproar has been triggered by the murder of the third woman in one week and the 25th in Accra in about two years. The latest victim was found on Sunday.

The public is angry because these murders have gone without anybody being arrested or the police having any clues.

The police have refused to make any comments claiming that these may jeopardise their investigations. They also say they are over-stretched and do not have adequate resources.

Business and Professional Women, the International Federation of Women Lawyers, Netright, the Ghana Section of Amnesty International and the Ghana Employers' Association called on parliament to summon the Inspector- General of Police and the head of national security to answer questions on the murders.

Public speculations are that these are serial murders while others say they are related to drugs.

Tactics of the murderers is to dump the bodies at Mataheko, a suburb of the city. The bodies of women are usually found naked and lying prostrate.

Women in Accra last year staged a demonstration against the murders and called for action, but nothing has been achieved.