Lahore: An angry mob in Pakistan torched an Ahmadi Muslim minority neighbourhood killing a woman and two girls in a row over blasphemy, the police said on Monday, in the latest attack on one of the country’s most persecuted groups.
The incident took place on Sunday in the low-income Arafat colony of the eastern city of Gujranwala, some 112 kilometres north of Lahore which is the capital of the Punjab province.
“Aqib Salim, 17, who belongs to a lower middle-class family allegedly posted a blasphemous picture on Facebook, which infuriated his Muslim friend Saddam Hussain,” police said.
He said the pair scuffled on the street, as hundreds of onlookers gathered and began protesting. “A violent mob set fire to five or six houses of the Ahmadi community after they accused the minority members of opening fire on them from the houses.”
Akhtar said a woman and two girls, aged seven and one, were killed due to suffocation and eight others were injured.
Another police official confirmed the incident and casualties. The officer, who did not want to be identified, said the police was investigating the charges of blasphemy leveled by the Muslim population in the area.
