ISLAMABAD—Thousands of people dragged a Pakistani man accused of desecrating Islam's holy book from a police station in central Pakistan, beat him to death and then set his body on fire, a police official said Wednesday....
A senior police officer, Mohammed Azhar Gujar, said in the incident Tuesday in Bahawalpur, a city in a deeply conservative part of central Pakistan, attackers stormed a police station where the man was being interrogated.
Gujar said the victim seemed to be mentally unstable. He was arrested after residents said he threw pages of the Qur’an into the street.
While the man was being questioned, some people started making announcements over mosque loudspeakers, urging residents to go to the police station and punish him.
Within hours, thousands gathered outside and demanded the man be handed over to them. Gujar said police tried to protect him, but the mob turned violent.
They burned several police vehicles and wounded seven officers before grabbing the man and dragging him into the street, where he was beaten to death and his body set on fire.