Rampage in Bangladesh over Quran image on Facebook

"About one thousand angry mobs vandalized and set ablaze at least 13 Buddhist houses and five temples in Merunloa village in Cox's Bazar district," Faruk Ahmed, a senior police officer, told Xinhua from Cox's Bazar district, some 391 km southeast of capital Dhaka . "The Facebook account holder, Uttom Kumar Barua, in the village in Cox's Bazar's Ramu subdistrict has taken a photo of trampling on the holy Quran and uploaded it from his Facebook account," he said. Ahmed said after the news about the defaming picture spread, hundreds of Muslims, who were already angry over a US-made anti-Islam film, took to the street on Saturday night.

Protesters launched attacks on the houses and the temples before the law enforcers reached the scene to bring situation under control in the wee hours of Sunday, he said. According to the police official, Barua and his family have gone into hiding. Ahmed claimed that no one was injured in the violence which lasted for several hours.

"The situation is now completely under control," said Selim Md Jahangir, the district's police chief. He said security measures have been beefed up in the village and law enforcers are guarding all the Buddhist temples to prevent further untoward incident. The authorities slapped a ban on gatherings for an indefinite period in the violence-hit areas. Bangladesh 's Home Minister Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir and Industries Minister Dilip Barua have already visited the site of the attack. The violence over anti-Islam picture on Facebook has spread to Cox's Bazar's adjacent Chittagong district, as miscreants andalized two more Buddhist temples in a village on Sunday morning. The district's police chief ZA Morshed told Xinhua, "We have tightended security measures after miscreants vandalized two temples."