Afghanistan has seen its worst violence in months after almost 20 people were killed over the weekend in protests over the burning of the Quran by fundamentalist US pastor Terry Jones.
The dead included seven staff at a UN mission in the normally quiet city of Mazar-i-Sharif, who were killed on Friday when several thousand demonstrators stormed the compound after prayers.
Four Nepalese guards at the entrance were killed while three Europeans from Sweden, Romania and Norway were shot after unsuccessfully attempting to barricade themselves in a secure room. Reports in the UK press claimed that two of the victims were also beheaded, while the third had his throat cut.
AFP meanwhile reported that the Russian head of the UN office survived by speaking in the local dialect and pretending to be Muslim.
Ten protesters were killed in a demonstration the following day in Kandahar, and 53 were injured.
Speaking to Reuters, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid denied that the insurgents were involved in the attack on the UN.
“The Taliban had nothing to do with this, it was a pure act of responsible Muslims,” Mujahid said. “The foreigners brought the wrath of the Afghans on themselves by burning the Quran.”
Jones, who leads a small congregation in Florida, became the centre of a global media storm in September 2010 after threatening to burn the Quran in opposition to plans to construct an Islamic centre near the former site of the World Trade Centre. He was eventually persuaded to refrain from burning the Quran after phone calls from the US State Department, and US Defence Secretary Robert Gates.
However on March 20, 2010, receiving little attention from the US media, Jones proceeded with the burning and uploaded the footage to the Internet, with Arabic subtitles.
The Washington Post reported Jones as admitting he had reneged on his promise not to burn the Quran: “If you want to be technical,” he told the newspaper, “I guess we broke our word.”
News of the burning later erupted across Afghanistan after President Hamid Karzai condemned Jones’ burning of the Quran ahead of Friday prayers.
The US is already grappling with the fallout of a recent article in Rolling Stone magazine and German newspaper Der Spiegel, concerning a rogue army unit in Afghanistan accused of killing three Afghan civilians for sport and cutting off their fingers as trophies. Five soldiers have been charged with murder and are being tried in a military court.
In the wake of events this weekend, US President Barack Obama said that “The desecration of any holy text, including the Quran, is an act of extreme intolerance and bigotry. However, to attack and kill innocent people in response is outrageous, and an affront to human decency and dignity.”
The UN’s Envoy to Afghanisatan, Staffan de Mistura, described the burning as an “insane and totally despicable gesture”.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon meanwhile condemned the killing of the UN staff as “an outrageous and cowardly attack which cannot be justified under any circumstances.”
The Washington Post meanwhile reported that in the wake of publicity surrounding the Quran burning Jones’ had been ostracised by his community, his congregation and income had plummeted, and both his Internet service provider and insurance company had cancelled their services.
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These men profess to be Christians, but they are not true believers. They are extremists who are using the name of Christianity to insult Islam and gain attention to themselves. We must, as Christians, condemn acts such as these. God has the final authority and will judge them.
Yeah its the the foreigners working in Afghanistan for the poor Afghans who brought it upon themselves, while the Quran was burned in the US.
"... it was a pure act of responsible Muslims"
!!!!!
There are things that should never be done. This burning event, may be the first tremors of an earthquake that has the potential to unleash a massive Tsunami, and a long lasting world war.
We humans are so doomed.
Any religion whose adherents can so easily and predictably be provoked into homicidal rampages IS DANGEROUS!
The article in Rolling stone magazine clearly shows that its not only a “single rouge unit” which carried out those massacres, but those type of behavior is very wide spread in the US army and takes place with the knowledge of higher authorities. so, the “charging” of 5 low ranking soldiers is just a farce.
and its not “only three civilians” which were killed for sport, investigators has found many fingers which did not match up with the initial victims. this shows that these western forces have taken many more innocent lives just for fun.
If you dont believe me, just read the article in http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-kill-team-20110327 and see for yourself.
will we ever get justice for this? will international war crimes charges ever be brought? The answer is no. because Americans, Israelis, Britians, etc.. can do anything they wish to muslims and they are not answerable to anyone. well, they can get away with these in this life, but eternal justice awaits them in Akhirath. we take confidence in that.
when US/westerners kills innocent civilians its not terrorism.
When they drives around town shooting people at random its not terrorism.
When they bombs civilian homes killing women and children inside, its not terrorism.
When they cut out body parts of the victims they have killed and use it as trophies, there is nothing wrong with that too.
suppose an Afghan killed an American and took trophy photos, it will be immediately reflected on his religion!!!
now, no one mentions that these Americans who committed these horrendous crimes are Christians/Jews/atheists.
Did anyone notice how the words are arranged to cover the devilish acts of US troops> “a rogue army unit” in Afghanistan “accused of” killing “three” civilians for sport and cutting off their fingers as trophies.
i can always count on minivan news for any news from anywhere that can portray muslims in negative light.
Why dont u cover about the daily killings of muslims in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kashmir, Palestine.. etc
all religions S**K
Europeans are so tolerant. If they were like these barbarians, they would have bombed that country to hell.
These people make me hang my head down in shame.
"Europeans are so tolerant. If they were like these ....., they would have bombed that country to hell"
FYI. Europeans are already occupying Afghanistan and they are bombing it day in and day out. just see how many innocent civilians are being killed by them. how many women & children are killed, how many mothers who have lost their children and how many children who are becoming orphans.
I think those europeans in afghanistan deserved what they got. The pastor who burned Quran was one of their ethnicity and religion, enethough not of the same nationality. Hence, this was a message by the afghani people to them, that muslims will not tolerate such dirty acts from them. Ban ki moon can shut the f*** up.
The so-called "pastor" is unambiguous responsible in this case! Nobody has the right to burn religious literature, neither the Bible, nor the Koran!
A human being, that is so intolerant and burns the Koran, the doesn't have the right to be a pastor and it should be excluded not only from the church but also would have to be punished lawfully!
Of course, however, the action of the Afghanistan people is also to be damned, because this UN soldiers couldn't anything for the action of the insane religious fanatic. !
@Ibrahim Yasir by your logic then you and every other idiot who preach hate must be hunted down and killed since the extremist that murder and burn schools for women and blow up innocents in markets are of same religion and ethnicity.
It show the sad state of the country when Idiots come out of wood work to condone killing of innocents.
You Morons do not know proportion nor proper response hell you don't even follow what you preach. Go back and read Quran and tell me what it says about killing of innocents. You and your kind are nothing but blood thirsty monsters who use religion to justify your blood lust.
@peasant
"Europeans are so tolerant. If they were like these barbarians, they would have bombed that country to hell".
Are you living in the same world as we are? I dont think so caz Europeans are bombing in Iraq, Afghan, Libya and Pakistan day and night. Europeans are the invading force. You dont need to hand down your head in shame. Just Chill....
@Pleasant, musician-
You simpletons, is this the extent of your knowledge of geopolitics and Western military capability?
both sides are stupids who believe in god and worship Satan!
Burning all the Qur'an or all the Bibles isn't going to quench the thirst of hatred that has been bred for so long between the Christians and the Muslims. Politicians especially from the west cannot wait a second without kicking the sleeping dog!
If their weapon production ends, they will have to go hungry! So, they would always look at making WARS!
A true believer will not worry about a Pastor burning Qur'an; because he will know that Allah to whom Qur'an belong, will deal with the Pastor or whoever destroys HIS BOOK!
@peasant
Its not finished yet. I did not mention western powers continuous support for Israel to suppress Palestinian and also the economic embargo on Iran, Syria. If you want I can give more
@musician-
"Logical fallacy"
Google the above words.
@ peasant
Prove me wrong then. Dont give words, it doesn't make any sense at all. You need to Google that word more than me.
Let me know when they catch the perpetrators and what sentences they get.......... muslims are never guilty in an Islamic country.............j
I lost an argument to a guy who said smoking doesn't kill because his grandfather, a life long smoker lived to be 97. If you can't understand what a logical fallacy is, then you win. I can't prove you wrong, it'd be like proving that the sky is blue to a blind man.
Ignorance is bliss. Combined with arrogance, I'd imagine it's like heaven on earth.
Someone is trying very hard to prove he is god. At the end he admits he is not. There is nothing wrong loosing an argument, it always happen when you do not have facts to support your arguments and obviously proverbs isn't a fact and that's not going to win an argument either.
Was he trying to light "statue of liberty"? Sala hellucinating fool.
No one is right here. The burning of holy scripts is not acceptable nor the killing of innocent people justified. Neither the hate in the comments is right and neither those who justify any of these acts correct. Its a sad day for humanity