A mob in eastern Pakistan stormed a police station on Saturday and lynched a man under custody and accused of blasphemy, the police said.

A number of police officials have been suspended because of their inability to stop the mob, a statement from the police said. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has taken notice of the incident and ordered an inquiry, the government said.

The country has seen numerous cases of vigilante action by mobs against people accused of blasphemy. One of the worst was the lynching of a Sri Lankan national, a garment factory manager, in 2021. On Saturday, Muhammad Waris, a man in his early 20s, was taken into police custody after a mob attacked him for allegedly desecrating the Quran the police spokesman Muhammad Waqas said.

However, the mob stormed the station, located in Nankana Sahib, took Waris out of the premises, beat him to death and tried to set his body on fire, Waqas added.

“Police could not resist them (the mob) because a handful of officials were present in the police station,” he said, adding that police reinforcements were able to stop the mob from setting the body alight, and were readying action against the crowd.

A video of the incident, confirmed as authentic, showed a man being dragged through the streets by his legs, stripped of his clothes and being pummelled by sticks and metal rods.