A Muslim mob in northern Nigeria has killed eight people after torching the house of a man who tried to save a Christian student accused of blasphemy, police said Tuesday.
“Eight people were killed in the house by the mob over the alleged blasphemy” Zamfara state police spokesman Shehu Mohammed told confirmed the incident, which happened on Monday.
He said the mob of Muslim students in the town of Talata Mafara were enraged over alleged derogatory comments about the Prophet Mohammed by their Christian schoolmate, who they attacked.
He said the victim was rescued by a passerby, a Muslim who rushed him to the police station for safety. The mob then burned down the house of the rescuer with eight people inside. “The man who rescued the student and his wife were not among the dead,” the police spokesman said.
He said police has imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew in the town while the students’ school has been closed down to prevent further violence. Armed soldiers and police have been deployed to the area to forestall further violence
Students were also seen hurriedly fleeing the town over fears of religious riots.
The issues of religious intolerance, sectarian and ethnic clashes have been claiming lives in Nigeria for eons. We need to put a stop to this senseless killings in the name God, religion or whatever.
