PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A Muslim mob in northwestern Pakistan broke into a police station Thursday, took away a man being held there and then lynched him over accusations that he had desecrated Islam’s holy book, the Koran.
The attackers also set fire to the station in Madyan, a city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, and burned police vehicles parked there, local police official Rahim Ullah said.
The murdered man, Mohammad Ismail, was a tourist staying at a hotel in the city when some locals turned on him and accused him of blasphemy.
Ullah said police officers took the man to the station for his protection, but the crowd swelled and chased them. The mob then attacked the station, seized Ismail, beat him to death, then burned his body and left it on the road.
Additional police forces have arrived in Madyan to control the situation, Ullah said.
It was not immediately known if any of the attackers were arrested.
Attacks on people accused of blasphemy are common in this conservative Islamic nation, where blasphemy charges can carry the death penalty. International and national rights groups say blasphemy accusations have often been used to intimidate religious minorities and settle personal scores.
Last month, a mob in Pakistan’s eastern province of Punjab attacked a Christian man, 72-year-old Nazir Masih, after accusing him of desecrating pages from the Quran. He later died in a hospital.
