Warning: this report contains some disturbing details, including references to torture

A mother of six children is the latest person to be killed after being accused of 'sorcery' in the New Guinea Highlands.

Reports of the ritualistic killings committed by people claiming their victims had been sorcerers have become more commonplace in recent years, despite the government of Papua New Guinea passing the Glasman Act in March, 2022, which prohibits the practice or procurement of a glasman or glasmeri - figures who claim to be able to identify sorcerers.

The victims are nearly all women. It is estimated around 700 people each year are assaulted or even killed after sorcery accusations, based on data compiled by the Papua New Guinea Tribal Foundation, a non-profit organisation working to prevent the horrific violent crime.

The murder of the woman, who was accused by some of being responsible for her schoolteacher husband's death, was allegedly tortured and killed by his immediate family over two nights, according to Radio New Zealand.

She was reportedly tied to a post and burned repeatedly, then on the third day she was taken to a nearby bridge in the Hela province, northwest of Port Moresby, before being shot dead.

A video captured the woman's assailants, after her abduction, accusing her of murdering her husband by sorcery. The National Indigenous Times has seen an image from the video, but has chosen not to publish it.

Regional Police Commissioner, Joseph Tondop, of the Hela province, appears to be moving fast on rounding up the alleged killers, according to multiple reports, after dealing with a litany of sorcery accusation-related killings in the past.

Commissioner Tondop is said to be sick of the inaction from local Highlands communities in addition to the difficulty of getting perpetrators brought to justice.

He has issued orders for the provincial police commander to mobilise resources and go after the suspects.

Papua New Guinea's Commissioner David Manning has posted a 50,000-kina (around $A18,500) reward for information leading to the arrest of these people involved.

There have been two arrests, including a male relative of the woman, based upon the disturbing video that hit social media on Wednesday, but no charges have been laid yet.

The Papua New Guinean Law Society has strongly condemned the brutal killings, labelling that the cold-blooded murders are driven by superstition and fear.

"These are not just crimes – they are acts of murder that strike at the heart of our humanity and the rule of law," the law society said in a statement.

"There's no place in our society for mob justice, gender-based violence or sorcery-based killings – enough is enough."

A United Nations official in Papua New Guinea told Radio New Zealand it cannot just put 'safe houses' out in the communities over fears the refuge for women will be violently attacked.

Some of the victims of sorcery violence, though, are brought away from their communities and placed in other PNG provinces where there are safe shelters.

Commissioner Tondop has previously said there needs to be a "strategy on a national scale", but the isolated parts of the country are a complex area to work within, according to the police and also government officials, which rely heavily on community-based organisations and individuals like church health workers to bravely go out and rescue these women.

A church health worker based in Hela province said there has been about one instance every month of rescuing persecuted victims.