A total of 321 trans people were murdered worldwide last year.

Another two trans women were murdered last week in Pakistan, adding to the growing total of trans fatalities that will — once again — be acknowledged at the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance.

The memorial is held each year on Nov. 20 to raise awareness of the hundreds of trans people worldwide who are murdered each year.

Last year’s total was 321 deaths caused by violence against trans and gender-diverse people, according to the advocacy group Transgender Europe (TGEU , which tallies the death toll each year for the 12 months ending in September. The latest total has not yet been announced.

This is the Associated Press report on the latest two murders in Pakistan:

2 transgender women stabbed to death at home in northwest Pakistan

By Riaz Khan

PESHAWAR, Pakistan  — Two men armed with daggers killed two transgender women at their home in conservative northwest Pakistan overnight before fleeing the scene, police said, a sign of increasing violence against trans people in the country.

The killings happened [Oct. 20] in Mardan, a city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, local police chief Fahim Khan said. He said the motive behind the killings was unclear and officers are still investigating, and the victims had been buried at a local graveyard.

[Police said three men have been arrested in connection with the murders.  The men, who were handcuffed and whose faces were covered with hoods, were present at a police news conference. District police chief Zahur Babar Afridi said the three men had confessed to the killings during questioning.]

Transgender people are often subjected to harassment, abuse and attacks in Muslim-majority Pakistan. They are also among the victims of so-called honor killings carried out by relatives to punish perceived sexual transgressions.

However, Pakistan’s parliament in 2018 adopted the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act to secure the fundamental rights of transgender Pakistanis, including their access to legal gender recognition. But many in the country have entrenched beliefs on gender and sexuality, and trans people are often considered outcasts. Some are forced into begging, dancing and even prostitution to earn money. They also live in fear of attacks.

Pakistani authorities have also issued identification cards to transgender people.

Farzana Jan, president of the Trans Action rights group in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said that another nine trans people have been killed in gun attacks in the province since January.

She said that none of the attackers involved in the previous cases had been brought to justice, mainly because prosecutors didn’t pursue the cases seriously.