CNN —A crowd vandalized eight churches and several homes following accusations of blasphemy against Islam in Pakistan’s most populated province of Punjab on Wednesday, according to government authorities and residents, stoking tensions between local Muslim and minority Christian communities. Multiple churches including the town’s Catholic Church, the Salvation Army Church and the Pentecostal Church, as well as the local Christian colony, were also vandalized and set on fire, Talib told CNN. Religious minorities in Pakistan are vulnerable to persecution under the country's strict blasphemy laws. Pakistan is among the countries where blasphemy is a crime punishable by the death sentence. Three years earlier, a mother of five from Punjab was convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to hang, after she was accused of defiling the name of the Prophet Mohammed.

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Persons: “, Prophet Mohammed, ”, Yasir Talib, Talib, Ghazanfar Majidi, ” Pakistan’s, Anwaar, Haq Kakar, Bishop, Church of Pakistan Azad Marshall, ” Marshall, ” Riina Kionka, Asia Bibi Organizations: CNN, National Commission for Human Rights, Centre for Social Justice, Catholic Church, Salvation Army Church, Pentecostal Church, Police, . District Police, AP People, Getty, Church of, European Union Locations: Pakistan’s, Punjab, Jaranwala, Pakistani, Faisalabad, Wednesday, Pakistan, AFP, Church of Pakistan, EU, Lahore’s Badami Bagh