Violence In Afghanistan Continues Over Quran Burning
Comments (0)
A view overlooking Kabul, Afghanistan. (Photo by David Bailey MBE via Flickr)
Roughly 70 people were injured during march where demonstrators were said to have attacked police and burned shops.
The Associated Press reports:
On Saturday, thousands of Afghans carrying long sticks and holding copies of the Quran over their heads marched through Kandahar, the largest city in southern Afghanistan and the cradle of the insurgency. The crackle of gunfire could be heard throughout the city, which was blanketed by thick black smoke.
Security forces shot in the air to disperse the crowd, said Zalmai Ayubi, a spokesman for the provincial governor. It's unclear how the protesters were slain, he said.
The Kandahar governor's office says insurgents incited the protesters.
"Some wicked and destructive people placed themselves amongst the protesters and started rioting throughout the entire Kandahar city," said a governor's office statement, according to The Associated Press. "The enemies of the people and country also burned down the furniture and a bus at a ladies' high school in Kandahar and destroyed some other properties."
Saturday's bloodshed came a day after 11 people were killed when protesters stormed a United Nations office in Mazar-i-Sharif.
From the Telegraph:
Eyewitnesses said armed Afghan riot police watched passively as a mob overran the compound.
Seven UN employees were killed, including four Gurkha guards and three international officials. One police chief said two of the victims had been beheaded, while other reports said some had had their throats slit with knives or been shot in the head.
Florida Pastor Terry Jones's burning of the Quran on March 20 angered Afghans. Many Afghans found out about the incident four days later when President Hamid Karzai condemned the action. Jones had threatened to burn the Quran last year on Sept. 11, 2010, but amid pressure backed out.
Jones doesn't take any responsibility for his disrespectful act.
"We find it very tragic any time that someone is murdered but we do not feel any responsibility for that. It definitely does indicate that there is a very radical element of Islam," he said.
Pastor Wayne Sapp joined Jones' on March 20. He was similarly unrepentant.
"I in no way feel like our church is responsible for what happened," Sapp said.
Al Jazeera reports about an attack in Kabul:
Also on Saturday, fighters clad in burkas attacked a coalition base in Kabul with guns and rocket-propelled grenades, but were killed either when they detonated their explosives or by Afghan or coalition fire outside the entrance, NATO and police said.
Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from Kabul, said the Taliban had claimed responsibility for that attack.
"They're saying the Americans, the Europeans and the United Nations have to take a very tough stance when it comes to the desecration of Islamic symbols and they haven't seen that, they haven't seen any statement issued by the UN or the American forces in Afghanistan," he said.
Take a look at video from Russia Today of the protests in Afghanistan below:
