Five burnt alive in Guatemala lynching

The United Nations mission in Guatemala, MINUGUA, are to investigate the killings of five men who were burnt alive in the central province of Coban.

The men, who were accused by villagers of murdering a local man, were dragged to a park before an angry crowd set them alight.

A UN spokesman in Guatemala Vincent Piola said a team had travelled to the area and would be looking into the case.

The UN says more than a-hundred-and-sixty people have been lynched in Guatemala since 1996 when the practise began on a noticeable scale.

Local studies attribute the problem to lack of confidence in the country's justice system.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service