AFGHANISTAN ENCOUNTERS DEADLIEST DAY IN KORAN PROTESTS
Thousands of enraged Afghans have taken to the streets for a fourth day, after US soldiers inadvertently set fire to copies of the Koran.In the deadliest day of unrest so far, at least 12 people died across the country, as mobs charged at US bases and diplomatic missions.
More than 20 people have been killed since the unrest began, including two US soldiers who died on Thursday.
President Barack Obama has apologised for the Koran-burning incident. In a letter to his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai, Mr Obama said the books had been "unintentionally mishandled".- US personnel apparently put the books into a rubbish incinerator at Bagram air base, near Kabul.
- Most of the deaths reported on Friday were in western Herat province, which had seen little unrest previously.
A group of demonstrators tried to attack the US consulate in Herat city, burning police vehicles and leaving several officers injured.- Hospital officials confirmed four people had been killed, but it was unclear how they had died. Another four people died near the town of Adraskan, 70km (45 miles) south of Herat city.
About 1,000 people took to the streets of Baghlan, north of Kabul, and one person was reported killed- In Kabul, hundreds of people poured on to the streets to take part in several rallies after Friday prayers; police said a protester was shot and killed accidentally when other demonstrators opened fire
- Two demonstrators were killed in Khost province
- Several thousand people protesting in Nangarhar blocked a main road
Reports say isolated protests have also broken out in Pakistan, where there is a tradition of angry anti-US rallies.Muslims consider the Koran the literal word of God and treat each book with deep reverence. various apologies from Nato and the US have not cooled the anger on the streets, says the BBC's Orla Guerin in Kabul.
DEADLY ATTACK ON U.N. BASE IN AFGHANISTAN, 12 DEAD; 2 BY BEHEADING
“Koran Burning is Terrorism”- Killing Unbelievers is a Command From Allah so You Can’t Blame the Worlds 1.5 Gazillion Muslims….by sheikyermami
KABUL, Afghanistan — At least 12 people were killed in Afghanistan Friday, two by beheading after extremists stormed their compound in northern Afghanistan yesterday.Most of those killed were foreigners; namely Norwegian, Romanian, Swedish and Nepalese nationals.
The Afghans extremist 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 U.N. office and attacked the staff, killing security guards and members of the U.N. mission, officials said.
- President Obama condemned the killings “in the strongest possible terms” and urged calm and dialogue. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon called the attacks “an outrageous and cowardly act...which cannot be justified under any circumstances.”
The shocking killings in Afghanistan were triggered by anger at the burning earlier this month of a copy of the Koran at a church in Florida. The controversial ceremony was carried out by pastor Wayne Sapp and preacher Terry Jones.Mr Jones first came to worldwide attention when he started a Facebook campaign calling for people around the world to set fire to copies of the Koran on last year's ninth anniversary of 9/11. He dubbed it International Burn a Koran Day.
It was only after the intervention of President Obama and Defense Secretary Robert Gates that he went back on his vow to burn the Koran.- He said later that he planned to burn 'a few hundred Korans' in a bonfire on church property and that he was expecting a crowd of 'several hundred' but believed others would burn the books on their own.
On March 21 this year, he finally carried out his threat. A copy of the Koran was burned in front of a crowd of 30 people outside his church. Beforehand, he held a bizarre mock trial and execution of the Holy Book before fellow pastor Wayne Sapp doused it in gasoline and set fire to it.
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