Mob attacks Pakistan police, fail to grab blasphemy suspect

By RIAZ KHAN
Associated Press

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani authorities say a mob has burned a police station and four police posts in the northwest overnight as officers detained a mentally unstable man accused of blasphemy. Police said Monday the demonstrators wanted to lynch the man on charges that he desecrated the Quran, Islam’s holy book. No police officers were hurt in the attacks and the suspect was moved to an undisclosed location. Authorities later summoned troops and restored order in the Charsadda district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Blasphemy carries the death penalty in Pakistan, where mere allegations of the offense are often enough to provoke mob violence.