Lightning strike kills 13 outside mosque in northeastern Bangladesh

AT least 13 devotees have been killed by lightning outside a mosque in northeastern Bangladesh. Local police chief Bayes Ahmed said 20 other people were injured by the lightning on Friday in Sylhet district.

The victims were struck as they left the mosque after special prayers for Ramadan.

Ahmed said yesterday that some of the dead – the imam who led the prayers among them – were killed at the scene, while others died on the way to the hospital.

The fasting month of Ramadan is being observed across Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority nation. Sylhet district is 120 miles northeast of the capital, Dhaka.