At least 13 Muslim worshippers were killed and 15 hurt when lightning struck a mosque in a remote village in north-east Bangladesh as they held special Ramazan prayers, police said on Saturday. The Imam was among those instantly killed when a lightning bolt hit the tin-and-thatch building at Saraswatipur village, about 200 kilometres (125 miles) from the capital Dhaka, late on Friday.
The lightning appeared to "electrify" the mosque after hitting a rooftop microphone being run on power from a car battery, local council member Abul Kalam told AFP by telephone. About 35 people from the village in the lake district of Sunamganj were holding taraweeh at the time, police chief Bayes Alam said. "All 13, including the Imam, died on the spot. The bodies and faces of some of the victims were burnt," Alam told AFP, adding six of the injured were hospitalised.