KABUL – At least 12 people were killed in Afghanistan yesterday, most of them foreigners, when a United Nations compound was stormed by Afghans enraged by a Florida pastor’s burning of a Koran, according to Afghan officials.
Thousands of protesters mobilized after a midday sermon, then surged toward the offices of the United Nations in Mazar-e Sharif, northern Afghanistan’s largest city and normally a bastion of calm.
Some in the crowd broke into the UN office and attacked the staff, killing security guards and members of the UN mission, officials said.
The attack drew worldwide attention, which had been diverted in recent weeks from the Afghan war by upheaval in the Middle East, and threatened to undermine administration efforts to portray Afghanistan as moving steadily toward stability.
President Obama condemned the killings “in the strongest possible terms” and urged calm and dialogue. UN secretary general Ban Ki Moon called the attacks “an outrageous and cowardly act ... which cannot be justified under any circumstances.”
Neither statement mentioned the Koran-burning, which took place on March 20th at the Gainesville, Florida church of Terry Jones. In September, Rev Jones had stepped back from plans to burn the Koran, which he has deemed responsible for terrorist activities, after public criticism from US faith leaders and official warnings that it could provoke a violent response.
News services said five of the dead yesterday were protesters but gave conflicting accounts of the violence. The governor of Northern Balkh province said Afghan insurgents used the Koran protest as a cover. The Associated Press reported that protesters themselves stormed the compound.
The United Nations said in a statement that UN personnel had died but that the “situation is still confusing and we are currently working to ascertain all the facts and take care of all our staff”.
In New York, sources said the number of casualties was likely to increase and indicated that the dead included five Nepalese Gurkhas from a private company that was responsible for providing security at the facility, three international staff and at least 10 Afghan national staff. Other reports said that two of the victims had been beheaded.
The protests began after a sermon at Mazar-e Sharif’s blue mosque, one of the nation’s most famous.
The Afghans had written a 10-point declaration outlining their anger, including insistence that Afghanistan should sever all ties to the United States if Rev Jones was not punished.
After assembling outside the UN offices about 1.30pm, the mob began throwing stones and attempting to breach the gates. They eventually succeeded and flooded into the compound. In addition to the UN staff killed, at least four other Afghan civilians died and 20 more were injured in the violence, Afghan officials said.
In Gainesville, Rev Jones called the attacks a “tragic and criminal action” and demanded action against the perpetrators by the US government and the United Nations. “The time has come to hold Islam accountable,” he said in a statement issued by his organisation, “Stand Up America Now”.
At his Dove World Outreach Center church, Rev Jones served as judge in a “trial” of the Koran held on March 20th in which the book was found “guilty” of “training and promoting terrorist activities ... death, rape, torture of people worldwide” and crimes against women and minorities.
“The public,” he said, was allowed to choose punishment ranging from burning, “drowning, shredding or facing a firing squad” for the Koran. In accordance with what he said was the public choice, a copy of the book was placed on an outdoor grill brought into the church and set on fire.
As a video camera focused on the flames, Rev Jones could be heard in the background commenting that “it actually burns very good. Good soak job there.”
Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, called the Afghanistan victims “selfless public servants and innocent bystanders who had no connection to the desecration of a Koran by a radical figure in Florida.” – (Washington Post/Bloomberg)