Protest in Mazar and attack on UN offices

[Niazi]

1 April 2011 Last updated at 16:52 Share this pageEmailPrint
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UN staff killed during protest in northern Afghanistan

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The BBC's Paul Wood: "It shows how this issue really inflames passions"Continue reading the main story
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At least eight foreign UN workers have been killed in Afghanistan during an attack on a UN compound in the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif, officials say.

The violence occurred during a protest over the burning of the Koran in a US church last month.

Several hundred people had been protesting peacefully in Mazar-e Sharif when the scene suddenly turned violent.

The UN has confirmed its workers are among the dead but said the situation remained "confusing".

"We are currently working to ascertain all the facts and take care of all our staff," said spokesman Dan McNorton.

He said the top UN representative in Afghanistan, Staffan De Mistura, was travelling to the area to handle the matter, according to a Reuters report.

'Day of anger'
Witnesses said a crowd of several hundred people were gathered outside the UN compound after Friday prayers when a small group broke away from the main area.

Munir Ahmad Farhad, a spokesman for Balkh province, said the group seized weapons from the guards and opened fire before storming the building.

"I can see the smoke over the compound," the Associated Press quoted him as saying.


Reports say five Nepalese guards and three other members of staff were among the dead.

The BBC's Paul Wood in Kabul says Mazar-e Sharif is known to be a relatively peaceful part of the country, but that the incident will raise questions of whether the city will be able to make the transition from foreign to Afghan security control later this year.

On 20 March, Pastor Wayne Sapp set light to a copy of the Koran at a church in Florida.

The burning took place in the presence of Terry Jones, another US pastor who last year drew condemnation over his aborted plan to burn the Koran on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

Protests against the Florida burning were held in several Afghan cities on Friday - which demonstrators in Herat had called a "day of anger", Afghanistan's Noor TV channel reports.

Our correspondent says that in a deeply religiously conservative country such as Afghanistan, that act has the power to inflame passions in otherwise peaceful areas.

[Nick]

YouTube - Afghanistan: Deadly protests in Mazar i Sharif - UN office attacked[/URL]

Situation is getting worse.

Protests continued in Kandahar, where 9 deaths and 60 injured, Herat 3 more deaths and 30 injured, and now into Kundoz, Ghazni, Jalallabad, and Ghost.

'Hold Islam accountable': U.S. pastor defiant after his Koran-burning publicity stunt led to two UN staff being beheaded and five others murdered



By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 5:57 PM on 2nd April 2011

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• U.N. sources say final death toll could rise as high as 20
• Five dead in second day of trouble and 53 left needing hospital treatment
  
• Taliban behind attacks, reports suggest
• Demonstrations against the burnings take place across the Middle East
• One of the dead is a 53-year-old female Norwegian pilot
• Mastermind behind attacks - a known militant - arrested say Afghan police
• Afghan authorities suspect insurgents blended into protesters
• Norwegian, Romanian, Swedish and Nepalese nationals among those killed

Victim: The first named victim is 53-year-old Norwegian pilot Lt. Col Siri Skare who was working as a UN military advisor in the country

Florida pastor Terry Jones has refused to apologise for burning the Koran as violence over the stunt spreads across Afghanistan - after up to 20 UN workers were killed by a mob yesterday.

Indeed the head of the Dove World Outreach Center, the man whom many hold responsible for instigating the wave of protests, remained defiant over his decision to hold the Koran burning - saying it was time for 'Islam to be held accountable'.
At least seven United Nations staff were murdered - two by beheading - after extremists stormed their compound in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif.
The mob beheaded two U.N. guards, seized their weapons and began shooting those inside the compound after a demonstration against Koran burnings in the U.S. turned violent.
A suicide attack hit Kabul and a violent demonstration against Koran-burning rattled the southern city of Kandahar the day after the worst ever attack on the United Nations in Afghanistan, which killed seven foreign staff.

Security forces shot rounds into the air in Kandahar to stop a crowd from burning shops and cars bent on destruction while much of the rest of the city was closed and hospitals reported that 53 people were needed treatment.
Mr Jones, who ignored international warnings that his actions would undoubtedly lead to violent reprisals, said the blame laid at the feet of the attackers.
He said: 'We must hold these countries and people accountable for what they have done as well as for any excuses they may use to promote their terrorist activities. The time has come to hold Islam accountable.
'Our United States government and our President must take a close, realistic look at the radical element Islam. Islam is not a religion of peace.
'We demand action from the United Nations. Muslim dominated countries can no longer be allowed to spread their hate against Christians and minorities.'
The Taliban has reportedly claimed responsibility for the killings, saying they were part of a campaign of violence in the run up to presidential elections.


Enlarge Protest: Thousands of protectors flooded the streets of Mazar-i-Sharif chanting anti-American slogans before the violence broke out


Attack: Smoke billows from the UN headquarters after protesters attacked the compound in Mazar-i-Sharif



The bloodshed is the worst attack on the U.N. in Afghanistan since the war began in 2001.
At least four Afghan workers were also killed and officials fear the total death toll could rise to 20.
The rampage began when more than 1,000 protesters flooded into the streets after Friday prayers, where they heard reports about the Koran burnings in America last month.
After slaying the guards, the armed mob scaled the compound's blast walls before setting fire to a guard tower and several other buildings.
An Afghan police source, who asked not to be named, said the chief of the mission in the city was wounded but survived.

Firebrand: Pastor Terry Jones threatened to burn a koran last year and carried the threat out last month

Among those murdered were Norwegian, Romanian, Swedish and Nepalese nationals. Two were decapitated, it is understood.
Mr Jones, a former furniture salesman, was quick to respond to accusations that blood was on his hands over the killings.
he said: 'They must alter the laws that govern their countries to allow for individual freedoms and rights, such as the right to worship, free speech, and to move freely without fear of being attacked or killed.'
The Afghan protests were in direct response to to Mr Jones's ceremonial burning of a copy of the Koran at a church in Florida on March 20.
The controversial pastor triggered international outrage last year when he urged Americans to burn the Koran on the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
He relented following an intervention by President Obama but on March 20 he and pastor Wayne Sapp finally carried out their threat.

After Sapp set fire to the text, he let it burn for ten minutes.


More...

• Death of Sunday newspaper reporter killed in Afghanistan explosion 'was not preventable'
• Donald Rumsfeld labels 'Kill Team' Afghan photos as 'much worse' than Iraq's Abu Ghraib

Mohammad Azim, a businessman in Mazer-i-Sharif, said that before the violence, clerics with loudspeakers had driven around the city in two cars to invite residents to the protest.
As the violent mobs dissipated this evening, reports of the UN dead began to trickle in.
The Norwegian Defence Ministry said one of the victims was Lt. Col Siri Skare, a 53-year-old female pilot.





Fight: It appears guards at the U.N. compound fought back injuring Afghan's who attacked the base


Suspects: Afghan officials suspect those who attacked the base were insurgents who had blended into the angry crowd before carrying out the violence

[Niazi]

No body in the whole world give a shyt what that stupid pastor did,because world didn't want to give more publicity to his moranic stunt but hay stpupid Afghan will do his job for him by killing and burning Thier own country.

[qunduz92]

i am glad that norwegian pilot was sent to hell along with the 6 others. curse them all because they were there only to help murder innocents and spread corruption.

[qunduz92]

No body in the whole world give a shyt what that stupid pastor did,because world didn't want to give more publicity to his moranic stunt but hay stpupid Afghan will do his job for him by killing and burning Thier own country.

everybody in the world gets emblazened when the iranian president voices mistrust of the holocaust account in a civil, intellectual manner yet burning and descration of the word of God is to be looked over and ignored? why such double standards?

you guys only begin to complain when it comes to defending the dirty kuffar against your own.