Afghans Protesting Florida Koran Burning Kill 7 UN WorkersAfghans protesting the burning of a Koran in Florida last week stormed a United Nations compound in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif and killed four Nepalese security guards and three other workers from Norway, Romania and Sweden, the UN said.
The crowd emerged from the city’s main mosque after Friday prayers and marched on the UN office where they attacked the guards with knives, seized their weapons and entered the compound, Lal Mohammad Ahmadzai, a spokesman for the northern region’s police force, said by phone.
The Nepalese guards were shot or stabbed to death and a man and a woman on the UN staff were beheaded, the spokesman said. Police opened fire on the crowd and 12 people were injured, he said.
“It is cowardly attack which cannot be justified under any circumstances,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said, according to his press office in New York. The UN press office revised an earlier estimate that there had been eight casualties.
U.S. President Barack Obama issued a statement condemning the attack “in the strongest possible terms.” The UN’s work “is essential to building a stronger Afghanistan,” Obama said. “We stress the importance of calm and urge all parties to reject violence and resolve differences through dialogue.”
Koran Burned
Florida Pastor Terry Jones oversaw the burning of a Koran at his church in Gainesville, Florida, on March 20, USA Today reported. The burning was done by Wayne Sapp, a colleague of Jones, the newspaper said. Jones threatened last year to burn a copy of the sacred book of Islam on the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the U.S.
“Such actions cannot be condoned by any religion,” UN spokesman Farhan Haq said. “They contradict the efforts of the United Nations and many people around the world to promote tolerance, intercultural understanding and mutual respect between cultures and religions.”
Jones, pastor of the Dove World Outreach Center, released a statement calling the attack a “very tragic and criminal action” that is “highly unacceptable” for the U.S. government.
“The United States government and the United Nations itself must take immediate action,” Jones 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.”
Radical Element
The Obama administration should “take a close, realistic look at the radical element Islam,” Jones said. “Islam is not a religion of peace.”
UN member nations should takes steps to prevent “Muslim- dominated countries” from spreading “their hate against Christians and minorities,” Jones 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.”
About 100 protesters also gathered today at a traffic circle near the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, the Associated Press reported. One carried a sign that said “We want these bloody bastard Americans with all their forces to leave Afghanistan,” the AP said.
Crime Against Religion
Afghan President Hamid Karzai last week issued a statement calling the burning a “crime against a religion,” AP said. He said it was a “disrespectful and abhorrent act” and called on the U.S. and UN to prosecute those who burned the Koran, according to the wire service.
Mazar-e-Sharif is the capital of the northern Balkh province, bordering Uzbekistan.
U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat, issued a statement saying he was “saddened and angered” by the UN workers’ deaths.
“We and the Afghan people owe a debt of gratitude to the people who risk their lives to make Afghanistan a better place,” Kerry said. “Instead, an angry mob took out its rage on selfless public servants and innocent bystanders who had no connection to the desecration of a Koran by a radical figure in Florida.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-01/afghans-protesting-florida-koran-burnin...