A mob attacked a man accused of blasphemy during Friday prayers in a northern Pakistani town and injured six police officers after they intervened to rescue him.
It was the third blasphemy-related incident in the country this month after a student was beaten to death by a lynch mob and a faith healer was shot dead.
Security officials in Chitral fired tear gas and live rounds on the mob, injuring eight protesters, after they attacked the local police headquarters and demanded that alleged blasphemer Rashid Ahmed be made available for mob justice.
"We told them that Ahmed will be examined medically and if he was found mentally fit then he will be tried under the blasphemy law, but the mob was not satisfied," Akbar Ali Shah, the local police chief, said.
Shah said he had asked for army assistance to help control the crowds, but a Reuters news agency correspondent at the scene said soldiers had yet to arrive.
Witnesses said Ahmed entered the local mosque asking to make an important announcement, then declared himself a messiah and said he would lead his followers to paradise. [Al Jazeera English] Read more
