Malawian police arrest 140 people suspected to be behind ‘vampire’ deaths
Lilongwe — Police in Malawi said they arrested 140 suspected members of vigilante mobs that have targeted people accused of vampirism, clamping down after a wave of attacks that have killed at least nine. The lynch mob attacks began in mid-September in four districts in southern Malawi, where belief in witchcraft is widespread. This week they spread to Blantyre, the country’s second-biggest city, where mobs burnt one person and stoned another to death on Wednesday. "We have so far arrested 140 people we suspect are behind the mob killings in Blantyre and other districts and the investigations are still going on," Lexon Kachama, inspector general of Malawi Police, told reporters. Police were doing everything possible to contain the situation and ensure the violence did not spread to other cities and townships, he said. President Peter Mutharika has also been visiting parts of the country affected by the violence. The UN and US embassy have blacklisted several districts in Malawi as d...
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