Muslim mob enraged over blasphemy kills eight people in Nigeria

Abuja: A Muslim mob on Tuesday killed as many as eight people after setting the house of a man afire in Talata Mafara town of Nigeria’s Zamfara state. The man defended a Christian student who was accused of blasphemy.

“Eight members of a family were killed in the house by the mob,” said Shehu Mohammad, the Zamfara police spokesperson.

The incident:

The enraged mob of Muslim students first attacked their Christian schoolmate who allegedly made derogatory comments against Prophet Mohammed. Subsequently, he was rescued by a passer-by, a Muslim man who rushed him to a nearby police station ensuring his safety. The mob then torched the rescuer’s house with eight people inside.

“The rescuer and his wife were not among the dead,” added the police spokesman.

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Other highlights:

• The town has been put under a dusk-to-dawn curfew.
• Preventing the further violence, the school has been closed down.
• Armed soldiers and policemen have been deployed on the town roads.
• The country is almost equally divided between Muslims in north and Christians in south.
• In recent years, religious clashes have claimed thousands of lives in the Africa’s most populous country.

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