THIS is the terrifying moment a lynch mob stormed a police station before beating a tourist to death.
The gang targeted a man who had been detained for allegedly insulting the Quran, as the horrific ordeal ended with the victim’s corpse being set on fire as large crowds cheered.
The victim, identified as Mohammad Ismail, was staying at a hotel in the city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, when a group of local residents accused him of blasphemy for desecrating the holy book of Islam.
After tracking Ismail to the police station in Madyan, the attacking mob burst through the guarded doors and grabbed him.
Harrowing footage shows them dragging Ismail outside before surrounding him and beating him unconscious with batons.
Moments later, his body is set on fire as the crowd cheers and rejoices over his death.
The celebrations continued for some time, while the crowd also set fire to the police station and burned several cars.
More shocking footage shows the huge group of men watching as flames engulf the night sky.
Eight people were injured in the carnage, reports say.
The local police have now opened a case against hundreds of people involved in the gang.
Spokesperson Wajid Rasool said: “We have started investigations into the incident and are tracing those who attacked the police station.”
Police official Rahim Ullah said officers took Ismail to the police station for his own protection after people accused him of disrespecting the Quran.
The crowd was said to have quickly gathered in pursuit of the man, with Ullah saying that “hundreds of angry locals” were involved in the lynching.
Extra police officers were summoned to Madyan to control the situation, Ullah said.
Attacks on people who are seen as disrespecting Islam are common in northwestern Pakistan.
Blasphemy against Islam is punishable by death under Pakistani law.
In May, a mob in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province brutalized Nazir Masih, 72, after accusing him of desecrating pages of the Quran.
The Christian later died in hospital.
Former Information and Broadcasting Minister Fawad Chaudhry took to social media to declare: “We are determined to commit suicide as a society.”
It turns out that a furious lynch mob was seen dragging a woman out of a police car and beating her to death as officers watched in Mexico last month.
The woman was suspected of kidnapping and killing an eight-year-old girl who disappeared.
Terrifying footage showed angry residents crying as they pulled the woman from the police vehicle and tore off her clothes.
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