- Norwegian, Romanian, Swedish and Nepalese nationals among those killed
- Killings triggered by demonstrations against burning of Koran in U.S.
- U.N. sources say final death toll could rise as high as 20
- Demonstrators at the burnings take place across the Middle East
At least 10 United Nations staff were murdered - two by beheading - after extremists stormed their compound in northern Afghanistan today.
According to reports, protesters in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif beheaded two U.N. guards, seized their weapons and began blasting those inside the compound after a demonstration against Koran burnings in the U.S. turned violent.
The bloodshed is the worst attack on the U.N. in Afghanistan since the war began in 2001.
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Attack: Smoke billows from the UN headquarters after protesters attacked the compound in Mazar-i-Sharif
Anger: Protests broke out across Afghanistan after reports of Koran burnings in an American church. The violence led to the beheading of two UN officials
Over a thousand protesters had
flooded into the streets after Friday
prayers, where they heard reports about the Koran burnings in America
last month.
At least four Afghan workers were also killed and officials fear the death toll could rise to 20.
After slaying the guards, the armed mob scaled the compound's blast walls before setting fire to a guard tower and several other buildings.
An Afghan police source, who asked not to be named, said the chief of the mission in the city was wounded but survived.
Among those murdered were Norwegian, Romanian, Swedish and Nepalese nationals. Two were decapitated, it is understood.
Early reports said that 10 people had been killed in the attack but this afternoon that up to 20 UN staff died.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told reporters in Nairobi that the attack was 'outrageous and cowardly'.
The worst previous attack was in 2009 in an insurgent assault on a guesthouse where UN staff were staying. Five UN staffers were killed and nine others wounded.
In October 2010, several militants were killed when they attempted to ambush the UN compound in Herat dressed in burkas worn by women.
General Daud Daud, commander of Afghan
National Police in several northern provinces, said those killed included five
Nepalese guards who were working for the UN and two other foreigners employed
at the complex.
A UN spokesman confirmed that workers had been killed at the mission, but he said the situation on the ground was still confusing and it was difficult to 'ascertain facts'.
Afghans chant anti-American slogans during a demonstration as smoke is seen rises in the background from the U.N. compound
Savage: After the demonstrations, protesters broke into UN offices in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif and murdered ten officials
Staffan De Mistura, the top UN
representative in Afghanistan, was heading to Mazar-i-Sharif to handle
the matter personally, he added.
Mohammad Azim, a businessman in
Mazer-i-Sharif, said that clerics with loudspeakers had driven around the city in
two cars to invite residents to the protest.
They were protesting at last week's ceremonial burning of a copy of the Koran at a church in Florida.
Controversial pastor triggered international outrage last year when he urged Americans to burn the Koran on the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
He relented following an intervention by President Obama but on March 21 he and pastor Wayne Sapp finally carried out their threat.
After Sapp set fire to the text, he let it burn for ten minutes.
And tonight pastor Jones remained defiant over his decision to hold the Koran burning, saying it was time for 'Islam to be held accountable'.
He said: 'We must hold these countries and people accountable for what they have done as well as for any excuses they may use to promote their terrorist activities. The time has come to hold Islam accountable.
'Our United States government and our President must take a close, realistic look at the radical element Islam. Islam is not a religion of peace.
'We demand action from the United Nations. Muslim dominated countries can no longer be allowed to spread their hate against Christians and minorities.
'They must alter the laws that govern their countries to allow for individual freedoms and rights, such as the right to worship, free speech, and to move freely without fear of being attacked or killed.'
Wounded: Afghans carry a man wounded by security guards when protesters attacked the UN headquarters in Mazar-i-Sharif
Outrage: Pakistani women shout slogans during a protest against the controversial US Pastor Terry Jones, in Karachi, Pakistan today
Enlarge
Simmering anger at the burnings finally erupted across the Middle East today.
Thousands of demonstrators marched through the western Afghan city of Herat.
There, protesters burned a U.S. flag at a sports stadium and
chanted 'Death to the US' and 'They broke the heart of
Islam'.
Around 200 also protested near the U.S. embassy in Kabul. Both protests remained relatively peaceful.
Demonstrations against the Koran burning also took place in Pakistan today.
Women representing the Working Women Welfare Trust marched through the streets of Karachi voicing their anger against Pastor Jones.
Last
week, Afghan President Hamid Karzai issued a statement calling the burning a 'crime against a religion'.
He denounced it as a 'disrespectful
and abhorrent act' and called on the U.S. and the UN to bring to
justice those who burned the holy book and issue a response to Muslims around
the world.
He also said
Mazar-i-Sharif would be one of the first parts of the war-torn country
that Afghan security would take from Nato forces.
The man behind Burn a Koran Day: Pastor Terry Jones
The shocking killings in Afghanistan today 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.
Controversy: U.S. Pastor Terry Jones, pictured last September, gained worldwide attention after he planned to burn a Koran
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.
He claimed he went back on his word because he has been trying to give the
'Muslim world an opportunity to defend their book' but received no response
from them.
A former hotel manager, Jones worked as a missionary in Europe for 30 years
before he took over as head of the Dove World Outreach Center, a fundamentalist
Christian church in Gainesville, Florida.
He and his wife Sylvia were asked to leave
Germany, where they had set up a 100-strong congregation in Cologne.
One of his three children accused them of 'financial and
labour abuses' and said that 'the workforce was comprised of the Jones'
disciples, who work for no wages and live cost-free in tatty properties owned
by the couple'.
His daughter Emma still lives in Germany and has no contact with her father
but it was reported she emailed him at the time of the Koran burning threats to
ask him to stop.
A protestant church official in Cologne said he had a 'delusional
personality'.
He also runs an antique and used furniture store on the grounds of the
church.
A former employee who was sacked and expelled from the church later revealed
that punishments for disobedience in the church included carrying a life-size
wooden cross or writing out all of Psalm 119, the longest chapter in the Bible
as well as cleaning the barnacles off his boat in Tampa.
He penned the book Islam Is The Devil and the phrase is frequently used on
billboards around the church's property.
In August 2009, two children, a ten-year-old and a 15-year-old, who belong
to Jones' church, were sent to school wearing T-shirts that read 'Islam Is of
the Devil'. They were sent home for dress code violations.
Jones believes Islam promotes violence and that Muslims want to impose Sharia
law in the United States.
He and his wife allegedly learned what they know about Sharia law by
watching videos on YouTube and he admitted in the past he had never actually
spoken to a Muslim person before.
He calls himself a doctor and claims he was awarded an honorary doctorate of
theology degree from the California Graduate School of Theology in Rosemead in
1983 but the university has never confirmed this.
According to ABC, he is often seen on the church's 20-acre compound with a
pistol strapped to his hip.
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