Pakistani police said a mob burned down several homes belonging to minority Ahmadi Muslims in the country’s east, killing a woman and her two granddaughters following rumors about blasphemous postings on Facebook.
Police official Zeeshan Siddiqi says the rioting in the city of Gujranwala erupted late Sunday after claims that an Ahmadi had posted a blasphemous photo of the Kaaba the cube—shaped structure in the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, that observant Muslims around the world face in prayer five times a day.
The photo allegedly contained nudity.
Siddiqi says the victims died of suffocation and that another woman miscarried during the riots and was in hospital.
Like other Pakistani minorities such as Christians, Hindu and Sikhs, Ahmadis have long been targeted by Islamic extremists.
COMMents
SHARE