Pakistan police guard Christian colony after mob attack over 'blasphemy'

Police were guarding a Christian neighbourhood in central Pakistan on Thursday, after hundreds of Muslim men rampaged through its streets setting fire to churches and ransacking homes over accusations of blasphemy a day earlier. 

The violence broke out in Jaranwala, on the outskirts of the industrial city of Faisalabad, after allegations spread that Christians had desecrated the Koran, forcing families to flee their homes.

A spokesperson for the Punjab provincial government said late Wednesday that more than 100 people were arrested, with police also seeking to arrest the people accused of defiling the Muslim holy book.