Church leaders in India have concerns of further civilian unrest after mob attacks killed eight people in three separate incidents over the weekend.

In the latest incident on July 20, a group of more than 10 men beat and killed four people, two men and two women, in the Gumla district of Jharkhand State.

The four deceased, all aged between 60 and 65, came from three different families.

Local media, quoting unnamed sources, said the fatal beatings were handed out after leaders of the local village assembly met and found the victims guilty of practicing black magic.

In a similar incident the day before, three people were beaten to death by a mob in the Saran district of the neighbouring State of Bihar.

Police said the perpetrators claimed that they had attempted to steal a buffalo, something denied by the victims’ families.

Two of the three died at the scene while the third died on the way to hospital, said Police Superintendent Har Kishore Rai.

Archbishop Leo Cornelio of Bhopal, the capital city of Madhya Pradesh, said mob lynching was evidence of “a dangerous path” to which the nation was being pushed. “It is not people generally,” Archbishop Cornelio said. “In most cases it is local goons and fanatic Hindu groups who are involved in such violence,” he said.