THIS is the terrifying moment a lynch mob broke into a police station before beating a tourist to death.
The gang targeted a man who had been detained for allegedly insulting the Koran as the horrific ordeal ended with the victim’s corpse being set on fire as large crowds cheered on.
APHundreds gathered in Pakistan as a man was lynched and set on fire after being accused of insulting the Koran[/caption]
APMoments before the man was beaten was death with batons[/caption]
APCrowds were seen cheering on the mob as they started to set fire to cars and the police station after the fatal killing[/caption]
EPACars were also set on fire by the angry mob as they celebrated deep into the night[/caption]
APLocal residents surrounded the spot where the man was lynched[/caption]
The victim, identified as Mohammad Ismail, was staying at a hotel in the town of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, when a group of locals accused him of blasphemy for desecrating Islam‘s holy book.
After tracking down Ismail to the police station in Madyan the attacking mob stormed through the guarded doors and grabbed hold of him.
Gut-wrenching footage shows them dragging Ismail outside before surrounding him and beating him senseless with batons.
Moments later, his body is torched as the crowds cheer and rejoice over his death.
Celebrations went on for some time as the mob also set fire to the police station and burned a number of cars.
More shocking footage shows the huge group of men watching on as flames engulf the night sky.
Eight people were injured in the carnage, reports say.
Local cops have now opened up a case against hundreds of people involved in the pack.
Spokesperson Wajid Rasool said: “We have started investigations into the incident and are tracing those who attacked the police station.”
Police official Rahim Ullah said officers took Ismail to the station for his own protection after people accused him of disrespecting the Koran.
The mob was said to have quickly gathered in pursuit of the man with Mr Ullah saying “hundreds of enraged locals” were involved in the lynching.
Extra cops were drafted in to Madyan to bring the situation under control, Mr Ullah said.
Attacks on people who are seen as disrespecting Islam are common in north-west Pakistan.
Blasphemy against Islam is punishable by death under Pakistani law.
In May, a mob in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province brutalised Nazir Masih, 72, after accusing him of desecrating pages of Koran.
The Christian man later died in hospital.
Former Information and Broadcasting Minister Fawad Chaudhry took to social media to declare: “We are hell-bent on committing suicide as a society.”
It comes as an angry lynch mob was seen dragging a woman out of police car and beating her to death while cops watched on in Mexico last month.
The woman was suspected of kidnapping and killing an eight-year-old girl who went missing.
Terrifying footage showed the infuriated locals wail as they pulled the woman out of the police vehicle and teared her clothes.
APExtra officers have been drafted in to Madyan to deal with the ruthless gang[/caption]
APThe grim aftermath of the fatal night with piles of ash and burnt out cars built up[/caption]