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Eight Killed In Protest At UN Office In Northern Afghanistan

April 01, 2011

Eight foreigners have been killed after demonstrators protesting a reported burning of the Muslim holy book stormed a UN office in northern Afghanistan.

The protesters were condemning a reported burning of the Koran at a small Florida church led by Reverend Terry Jones.

A local government spokesman said some protesters grabbed weapons from the UN guards and opened fire on the police, then stormed the building in Mazar-e Sharif.

Dan McNorton, a spokesman for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, confirmed that people working for the UN had been killed in the attack.

Police said those killed included five Nepalese guards and three other foreigners. Two of those killed were beheaded, police said.

Several hundred people also protested the reported Koran burning at several sites in the western city of Herat, and in Kabul.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has called the reported burning a "crime against a religion."

compiled from agency reports

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/un_workers_killed_in_northern_afghanistan/3544228.html

Copyright (c) 2011. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.