This is the
moment a woman was beaten to death by a mob before her body was set on
fire and dumped in a muddy river in the heart of Afghanistan's capital.
Shocking
video has emerged of crowds of men repeatedly stamping on the
27-year-old, named only as Farkhunda, near the Shah-e Doh Shamshira
shrine and mosque in the heart of Kabul.
At
one point, one of the attackers can be seen striking the woman with a
piece of wood while another was filmed hurling a brick at her as she lay
on the ground.
Some of the men stamped on the victim's limp body while others could be seen punching and kicking her.
Reports
have emerged that her body was then taken to the Kabul river and
burned. The mob carried out the lynching after she was accused of
setting fire to pages of the Koran.
But her
devastated parents have told Kabul police that their daughter had
suffered with mental illness for many years and that she had not meant
to burn Islam's holy book
The police did not comment immediately on any circumstances
that might have led to the attack.
Officers had to move in to disperse angry crowds of 'thousands of people' in the area as the incident unfolded.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Interior confirmed four
suspects had been arrested in connection with the attack on his
official Twitter account.
Disturbing
footage of the attack was posted on social media websites and shows
other men filming with their mobile phones while it is taking place.
Scroll down for video
The
BBC reports one eyewitness to the lynching as saying: 'I heard noise, I
went and people said that a woman is burning Koran. When I went closer I
saw angry people shouting they want to kill the woman.
'They
beat her to death and then threw her on the river side and burned her.
Firefighters later came and put out the fire and took the body.'
The
head of Kabul's criminal police General Farid Afzali told AFP: 'A woman
burned a copy of the Koran in the Shahi Doshamshira neighbourhood.'
The woman's body was then thrown into the Kabul River, Afzali added.
Reports
have emerged that police had been trying to disperse the angry crowd of
'thousands of people' who had gathered in the densely populated
neighbourhood.
Interior
ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi also confirmed the incident, saying a
probe into the 'very unfortunate' event was underway.
While Afghanistan is struggling to emerge from the
suppression of women under Taliban rule that began in the 1990s,
such public attacks, especially in the capital, remain ununsual.
Women's rights have made gains since the 2001 ousting of the
militants, who follow a hardline interpretation of Islamic law,
but observers worry that progress is at risk as widespread
violence against women persists and women remain
under-represented in politics and public life.
A 2013 U.N. report noted that most violence against women
goes underreported, particularly in rural areas.
Local television news channel 1TV posted what appeared to be
footage of the aftermath of the killing on its website and said
the mob attacked the woman because she had burned pages from a
Koran.
The family of the victim met the Kabul police's criminal
investigation team, a security official said.
Human rights groups have raised concerns whether enough was
done to stop the mob.
'I would certainly hope the government would be trying to
arrest and prosecute everyone who was involved and doing an
internal investigation into whether the police response was
appropriate,' said Heather Barr, a senior researcher for women's
rights in Asia for Human Rights Watch.
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