Police in southern Pakistan shot dead a blasphemy suspect during an alleged shootout with armed men, officials said Thursday, the second such apparent extra-judicial killing in a week, drawing condemnation from human rights groups.

Dr Kanbhar had gone into hiding on Tuesday after being accused of insulting Islam’s prophet Muhammad and sharing blasphemous content on social media. He is the second blasphemy suspect in Pakistan to be shot dead in the space of a week.

The family of a blasphemy suspect killed in custody in southwestern Pakistan has forgiven the police officer accused of killing him, saying they would not press charges "in the name of God". Abdul Ali,

Karachi: A mob has burnt the corpse of a doctor who was accused of blasphemy and later killed by a policeman in Pakistan's Sindh province, preventing the family from carrying out his burial. Dr Shahnawaz Kanbar was killed in a shootout with police in Sindh province amidst allegations of blasphemy that prompted him to flee near Mirpurkhas,

The victim had posted a video of himself from a hotel claiming that his account had been hacked and he could not even imagine sharing blasphemous content.