[Al Arabiya Latest] In the latest outburst of religious tensions in Egypt, dozens of villagers set fire to Bahai homes after hearing on television that the village was "full of Bahais," reports said Thursday. Angry villagers rampaged through Sharoniyah, in southern Egypt, on Monday and Tuesday, setting fire to and damaging four Bahai homes, a security official told AFP, asking not to be named.
The fires spread to two Muslim homes which were also damaged, the official said. The villagers also threatened the village's roughly 30 Bahais with death, the official said, after which all of them fled.
Police have detained six people in relation to the attacks and are questioning them as additional police were deployed in the area.
Earlier this month Egypt's ruling party agreed to allow Bahais to refrain from filling in the religion section on their identity cards and the government announced it was mulling the possibility of removing the religion section for all Egyptians.