According to her parents, the victim (27 years old) had suffered from mental problems for several years. Her gesture was not intentional. A video on the internet shows hundreds of men beating her with sticks and bricks and kicking her. Once dead her body was burned and thrown into the river.

Kabul (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Hundreds of people have beaten to death a 27 year old woman in Kabul for having allegedly burned pages of the Koran. The attack took place last night near the Shah-Du-Shamshaira mosque. Afghan's Tolo news agency said quoted the parents of the woman, named only as Farkhunda, as saying she had suffered from a mental illness for 16 years. The parents, who were not named, claimed she had not intentionally burnt the Koran.

Police have not yet commented on the circumstances that led to the attack, but they promised to bring the women's killers to justice. Local sources point out that it is the first such incident to have ever occurred in Afghanistan.

A video, showing the attack on Farkhunda, has gone viral. It shows a mob beating her with sticks; some walking on her legs; a man hitting her with a brick. Others are seen kicking and punching her lifeless body. At that point, they carried her body to the banks of the river Kabul: here they set fire to her body and threw it into the river.

The images also show many bystanders doing nothing to stop the attackers, but filming everything with mobile phones.

At that point, the police arrived and dispersed the crowd, which had grown to "thousands of people". Human rights activists have raised concerns about what has been done to stop the attackers.

Interior Ministry spokesman, Sediq Sediqqi, confirmed the attack, stating that his ministry is conducting an investigation of this "very unfortunate" event. On his Twitter account the politician confirmed the arrest of four suspects.

 

• Afghanistan
• woman beaten to death Islam extremism mob frenzy Koran pages