A 27-year-old woman was beaten and burned for allegedly burning the Koran. Photo by Ismael Mohamad/UPI | License Photo

KABUL, Afghanistan, March 21 (UPI) -- Nine people have been arrested in the brutal attack of a 27-year-old mentally ill woman who allegedly set the Koran ablaze.

The angry mob thought the woman had been setting fire to copies of the holy book in a nearby mosque. The woman, named by Afghanistan's Tolo news agency as Farkhunda, was beaten, set on fire and dumped into a nearby river.


There is no evidence she burned the book, Daiul Haq Abid, deputy minister of the Ministry of Hajj and Religious Affairs, told Tolo.

"I personally followed the case but I didn't find any evidence that this woman burned Holy Koran," Abid said. "The burned papers were pieces of a Persian book."

Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Seddiqi said nine have been arrested, but the investigation is ongoing.

The United Nations condemned the attack, saying the continued violence against women in the region is a growing concern.

"We are encouraged by initial reports of the arrest of several suspects, but call on the authorities to investigate this incident fully and bring to justice all persons who actively participated in the killing, or aided and abetted it," said Elzira Sagynbaeva, the Country Representative for UN Women in Afghanistan.