Eight people were killed by a mob in northern Nigeria this week after the perpetrators set fire to a house of a Muslim man who previously saved a Christian from the attacking mob.

According to Agenzia Fides, the mob attempted to lynch a Christian student accused of blasphemy.

The incident began when Muslim classmates beat the man, who previously converted to Christianity from Islam, for insulting their religion. After leaving him for dead, a Muslim bystander helped the victim by getting him to the hospital for medical treatment.

However, after the lynch mob discovered what the passerby did for the Christian student, they attempted to assault him again, but another individual relocated the student to a different location. The attackers then went after the person who initially helped the Christian man and burned down his house, which eight people were in.

Police told Agenzia Fides the targeted Muslim man and his wife were not among those killed.

Nigeria is in the midst of fighting Muslim jihadists from the terrorist organization Boko Haram on their own soil and receives funding from the European Union and the United States to aid the government in the conflict.

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