ISLAMABAD (AP) — Hundreds of rioting Muslims have attacked Christians in eastern Pakistan today, burning and looting their homes.

The rampage has left six Christians dead, including a child, and 10 others wounded.

A minister says today's violence began when shots were fired on a peaceful Muslim rally passing by a Christian neighborhood.

Television footage showed baton-wielding crowds running through the streets, blocking traffic and a railway line. Ransacked furniture was lying outside blackened and burning homes. A group of people rushed a man with burns through the streets on a wooden hand-pulled cart.

Gunfire could also be heard.

Police dispersed the mob, but tensions remained high.

The unrest started Thursday, when members of a banned extremist Muslim organization began torching Christian homes after allegations that a Quran had been defaced.

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: Pakistani Christians chant slogans during a rally to condemn the attacks on Christians by Sunni Muslims, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2009 in Lahore, Pakistan. Rioting between Christians and Muslims in eastern Pakistan's Punjab region Saturday killed six people, including a child, and injured more than a dozen following allegations that a Quran was defaced, authorities said.