Great progress in the search for the 25-year-old mother of three, who was killed in an honor killing by her abusive husband 10 years ago.

Tragic Rania Alayed (25) was murdered by her abusive husband Ahmed Al-Khatib (35) because he was “too Westernised”.

He became enraged after desperately seeking help from lawyers to escape his unhappy marriage.

She ran away from the family home and enrolled at a university, making new friends and starting a relationship with a man she met online.

However, he disappeared in June 2013 and his body was never found.

Al-Khatib, who was found guilty of murder and sentenced to 20 years behind bars, never disclosed where he buried her.

But in a dramatic development, officers from Greater Manchester Police (GMP) began digging alongside the A19 in Thirsk, North Yorks.

A digger was seen removing patches of grass as a police team, including a cadaver dog, began a painstaking search of an embankment as cars and trucks sped past.

GMP said it was acting on “new information” and was focusing its efforts on the outskirts of the picturesque market town.

A spokesman said: “We are carrying out a detailed search into the discovery of Rania Alayed’s body.

“Following new information regarding a non-recent investigation, GMP’s Major Incident Team has been given the authority to begin searching land alongside the A19 near Thirsk.

“Officers will be on site to conduct a thorough investigation of the designated area and will keep disruption to the local community to a minimum so as not to pose any wider risk or threat to the public.

“GMP remains committed to finding Rania and will act on all available lines of inquiry where possible to help bring some closure to her loved ones ten years on.”

Al Khatib, from Manchester, was sentenced to at least 20 years in prison for Rania’s murder.

His brothers Muhaned and Hussain were also jailed for helping dispose of the body.

They claimed they dumped him somewhere on the A19 but refused to say exactly where.

All they offered instead was 30 kilometers of dual carriageway.

Sentencing Al Khatib, Mr Justice Leggatt said: “The disdain you showed Rania in death was matched by how you treated her in life.”

A jury at Manchester Crown Court was told Rania was invited to a meeting at the flat of Al-Khatib’s brother Muhaned, 38, where she was murdered and her body stuffed into a suitcase.

Al-Khatib attempted to conceal the murder by wearing her jeans, top and shawl and walking past CCTV cameras to give the impression that she was still alive.

He and Muhaned then transported her body to the back of a caravan and, along with another brother, Hussain, 34, drove 87 miles to Thirsk, North York, where the body was believed to have been buried alongside a passenger.

Rania’s friends were alarmed when she did not respond to phone calls and text messages, but Al-Khatib tried to make it look like she had fled abroad.

Police arrested Al-Khatib in July 2013, and he confessed, saying he pushed her during an argument in the belief that she was possessed by a jinn, an evil spirit in Islamic folklore.

Muhaned pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice and was sentenced to three years in prison, while Hussein was found guilty of the same charge and sentenced to four years in prison.

After her conviction, Detective Chief Inspector William Reade said Rania had “begun to leave an abusive and violent relationship behind her and has real reasons to be optimistic about the future”.

“But her husband took everything from her in the cruelest and most despicable way possible.”

He called Rania’s murder “both extremely sickening and chilling.”

He added: “Make no mistake, this was an honor killing; Al-Khatib’s murderous actions were motivated by anger and jealousy that Rania would try to take control of her life and live a more westernized life.”

DCI Reade added that police would “use cutting-edge methods” to continue searching for his body and that “he can be given the dignified burial he deserves”.