full screen Destroyed interior outside a church set on fire in Jaranwala near Faisalabad in Pakistan. Photo: Avid Waqar/AP/TT
Hundreds of Muslim men attacked several churches and homes in a mostly Christian area of the city of Faisalabad in Pakistan on Wednesday, Pakistani police said.
Videos on social media show mobs throwing bricks and setting fire to a church, and another clip shows attackers smashing windows and setting fire to two other churches. Several residents in the area were forced to flee.
According to the police, the attacks were preceded by rumors that a Christian man allegedly desecrated a Koran. The US State Department is calling on Pakistan to thoroughly investigate the events and to call for calm.