China mob lynches salesman

BEIJING — A mob of angry parents lynched a book salesman and badly injured four of his colleagues after rumors spread that the men were part of a human smuggling ring, the official New China News Agency said Monday.

The attack at a primary school in prosperous Zhejiang province occurred in the early morning as the group handed out leaflets about a lecture to be given nearby, a police official said.

After gossip spread that a gang was trying to ensnare the young pupils, parents surrounded the group and set upon its members until police intervened. One man died in a hospital and the others were undergoing treatment, the news agency said.

Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of children go missing in China each year.