An Indian father killed his 16-year-old daughter with his rifle after a family dispute in Iran, Iranian local media reported on Friday.

Iranian news website Rokna reported that the 43-year-old shot his daughter Ariana in the chest in the southern city of Noorabad.

The site quoted the father as saying: "I didn't really intend to kill my daughter, I shot it unintentionally. I went there with my rifle just to scare her."

The same source added that the father was arrested and "confessed to his crime."

According to Islamic law in force in Iran, a father is not punishable by death if he kills one of his children.

While there are no accurate statistics on honor killings in Iran, the ISNA news agency estimates that "between 375 and 450 cases of honor killings occur every year" in the country.

According to the agency, honor killings account for about 20 percent of murders and half of family murders committed in Iran.