A pregnant woman and five of her children are among seven people who have been killed in a suspected exorcism in Panama.
The victims, who were from an indigenous community, were rounded up by 10 lay preachers before being tortured, beaten, burned and hacked with machetes to make them “repent for their sins”.
Police managed to free 14 others, also from the Ngabe Bugle indigenous group, who had been tied up and beaten with wooden clubs and Bibles.
Two pregnant women and several children were injured, and the area is so remote that helicopters were used to take them to hospital for treatment.
Officers were alerted to what was happening by three villagers who managed to escape and travel to a hospital for treatment.
One of the suspects in the killing is the children’s grandfather.
They discovered an improved church which belonged to a little-known religious sect called The New Light Of God – and a local official said the police were shocked by what they saw.
Read more via ABC News
