A stampede at a mosque in which 80 people were injured was caused when a woman spotted a mouse, officials say.

The rush happened in Casablanca’s Hassan II mosque during Monday evening prayers when a mouse scurried over a woman’s foot, prompting her and others to scream.

Dozens of women then panicked and ran out of the mosque, eye witnesses report.

The men, who traditionally worship in another part of the mosque, overheard the screaming joined the rush to get out, fearing a terror attack.

Morroco World News reports that the injured were mainly women, some of whom fainted in the panic.

Monday was Laylat al-Qadr, the holiest night of the Muslim month of Ramadan when God is said to have revealed the Koran to Mohammed.

Hassan II mosque is one of the biggest in Africa, capable of holding up to 105,000 worshippers.