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First it was storms and floods - now the world's gay community is being held responsible for earthquakes.

In a bizarre rant, a Muslim cleric in Ghana has claimed homosexuals cause devastating tremors whenever they engage in 'sexual encounters'.

The claims appear to bring a whole new meaning to the phrase 'did the earth move for you, dear?'

Read more:35 people including referee injured after lightening strikes football pitch

According to indiatimes.com Mallam Abass Mahmud said in an interview: “Allah gets annoyed when males engage in sexual encounter and such disgusting encounter causes earthquake.”

(Image: Getty)

Mr Mahmud is part of Ghana's conservative Zongo community and appeared to make the comment in an effort to justify violence against LGBT people.

He added: “Should we allow such a shame to continue in our communities against holy teachings?

"Certainly no, and we are very happy to chase away such idiots from our Zongo communities.”

Homosexuality is illegal in Ghana and many LGBT people are understood to have fled the country with reports of violence against them having increased.

In 2014, UKIP councillor David Silvester was roundly ridiculed for suggesting storms and heavy flooding had been caused by the governments decision to legalise gay marriage.

In a letter to his local paper the Henley Standard, he wrote: "The scriptures make it abundantly clear that a Christian nation that abandons its faith and acts contrary to the Gospel (and in naked breach of a coronation oath) will be beset by natural disasters such as storms, disease, pestilence and war."

And last year, Bryan Fischer, of the American Family Association, appeared to suggest “sodomites” were to blame for floods on his AFA radio show.

He said: “If you’re going to attribute the flooding in Texas to some kind of supernatural cause, you can make a geographical connection between the flooding and the practice of the occult and witchcraft and the embrace of homosexuality."