ianstone
09-10-2010, 05:00 PM
Protester shot dead at Nato base in Afghanistan during angry demonstration over Koran burning
By Mail Foreign Service (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=y&authornamef=Mail+Foreign+Service)
Last updated at 4:47 PM on 10th September 2010
Comments (14) (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1310820/Man-shot-Terry-Jones-9-11-Koran-burning-protests-Afghanistan-NATO-base.html#comments)
Add to My Stories (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1310820/Man-shot-Terry-Jones-9-11-Koran-burning-protests-Afghanistan-NATO-base.html)
A pastor's plan to burn copies of the Koran claimed its first victims today when one Muslim protester was shot dead and several others were wounded at a demonstration in Afghanistan.
The shooting came outside a German-run Nato base in northeast Afghanistan as thousands of angry Muslims took to the streets across the country, some threatening to attack U.S. bases in the country.
Demonstrations later spread to the capital, Kabul, and at least four other provinces.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/09/10/article-1310820-0B1E29D7000005DC-692_468x312.jpg Flag burning: Muslims show their anger at American pastor Terry Jones's ideas to burn the Koran - some 10,000 protested outside the NATO base in Afghanistan
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/09/10/article-1310820-0B1E28BC000005DC-412_468x312.jpg Anger: Muslims around the world have been angered by Reverend Terry Jones's desires to burn the Koran on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks
Terry Jones, Christian pastor of a small church in Gainesville, Florida, called off the Koran-burning plans after drawing international condemnation and a warning from President Barack Obama that it could provoke al Qaeda suicide bombings and other Islamist violence around the world.
U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates had called Jones directly to urge him not to go ahead, a Pentagon official said.
Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said Gates had expressed 'grave concern' in the brief telephone call with Jones that the Koran burning 'would put the lives of our forces at risk, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan'.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/09/10/article-1310820-0B1EA127000005DC-43_468x351.jpg Conflict: Reverend Terry Jones's threat to burn the Koran has caused outrage in the the Muslim world
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/09/10/article-1310820-0B1CC8BC000005DC-223_468x334.jpg Controversial: Pastor Terry Jones of the Dove World Outreach Centre has said that he still might burn the Koran on September 11
A crowd, estimated at 10,000 by a government official, poured out of mosques into the streets of Faizabad, the capital of Badakhshan in Afghanistan's northeast, after special prayers for Eid al-Fitr, the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
One protester was shot dead when a smaller group attacked a German-run Nato base in Faizabad, hurling stones at the outpost, a spokesman for the provincial government said.
Afghan security forces rushed to the scene to restore order and three police were hurt when hit by stones thrown by the crowd, the spokesman said.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/09/10/article-1310820-0B1BF18B000005DC-354_468x286.jpg Burning: Muslim protesters burn an effigy of Reverend Terry Jones to show how offensive they find his suggestion of burning the Koran
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/09/10/article-1310820-0B1EBD44000005DC-621_468x337.jpg Chilling: The Muslim community stood together in the face of America after Rev Terry Jones said that he would burn the Koran
A spokesman for the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force in Kabul said ISAF was aware of protests happening in Faizabad and were checking the incident.
Eight Christian aid workers were killed by unidentified gunmen in remote and rugged Badakhshan last month.
Several hundred gathered in a northern district of Kabul, while about 2,000 marched on a government building in western Farah, officials and witnesses said.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/09/10/article-1310820-0B1EA632000005DC-337_468x308.jpg A banner bearing the writing in English and Arabic 'Burning the Koran is shame on Americans' outside a mosque as Iraqis hold a copy of the holy book during the first day of the Eid Al-Fitr in Baghdad
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/09/10/article-1310820-0B1EC11D000005DC-139_468x319.jpg Muslims offer Friday prayers during the holy month of Ramadan outside a mosque in Kolkata, India
There were also protests in nearby Badghis in the northwest and Ghor and Herat in the west.
Similar protests over perceived desecration of Muslim symbols have led to dozens of deaths in Afghanistan in recent years, including after a Danish newspaper published a cartoon depicting the Prophet Mohammad in 2005.
In eastern Nangahar, tribal chiefs threatened to attack Nato bases near the Pakistan border if Jones went ahead with the plan.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/09/10/article-1310820-0B1E2CF5000005DC-532_468x312.jpg Shoeing: Muslims make their feelings be shown as they wallop an effigy of Rev. Terry Jones with their shoes - one of the biggest insults in the Muslim world
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/09/10/article-1310820-0B1E3512000005DC-846_468x591.jpg Effigy: Rev Terry Jones is turned in to a dummy and hit with shoes by Muslims angered by his views
'If they do this, we will attack American bases and close the highway used by convoys supplying American troops,' a cleric named Zahidullah told Reuters.
At mosques in the capital, clerics also labelled the plan dangerous.
'Muslims are ready to sacrifice their sons, fathers and mothers for Islam and the Koran,' one preacher said at one Kabul mosque to cries of 'Allahu Akbar' (God is Greatest).
A spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry condemned the planned action as 'a provocative and satanic act', according to Iran's semi-official Mehr news agency.
On Thursday, the top U.N. diplomat in Afghanistan said protests could force the delay of parliamentary elections set for September 18.
The polls are seen as a key test of stability in Afghanistan before Obama conducts a war strategy review in December.
Obama has said the plan, dismissed by conservatives and liberals alike as an attention-seeking stunt, would be a 'recruitment bonanza' for al Qaeda.
Obama has sought to improve relations with the world's 1.5 billion Muslims.
The United States has powerful legal protections for the right to free speech and there was little law enforcement authorities could do to stop Jones from going ahead, other than citing him under local bylaws against public burning.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1310820/Man-shot-Terry-Jones-9-11-Koran-burning-protests-Afghanistan-NATO-base.html#ixzz0zA8QlnfC
By Mail Foreign Service (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=y&authornamef=Mail+Foreign+Service)
Last updated at 4:47 PM on 10th September 2010
Comments (14) (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1310820/Man-shot-Terry-Jones-9-11-Koran-burning-protests-Afghanistan-NATO-base.html#comments)
Add to My Stories (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1310820/Man-shot-Terry-Jones-9-11-Koran-burning-protests-Afghanistan-NATO-base.html)
A pastor's plan to burn copies of the Koran claimed its first victims today when one Muslim protester was shot dead and several others were wounded at a demonstration in Afghanistan.
The shooting came outside a German-run Nato base in northeast Afghanistan as thousands of angry Muslims took to the streets across the country, some threatening to attack U.S. bases in the country.
Demonstrations later spread to the capital, Kabul, and at least four other provinces.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/09/10/article-1310820-0B1E29D7000005DC-692_468x312.jpg Flag burning: Muslims show their anger at American pastor Terry Jones's ideas to burn the Koran - some 10,000 protested outside the NATO base in Afghanistan
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/09/10/article-1310820-0B1E28BC000005DC-412_468x312.jpg Anger: Muslims around the world have been angered by Reverend Terry Jones's desires to burn the Koran on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks
Terry Jones, Christian pastor of a small church in Gainesville, Florida, called off the Koran-burning plans after drawing international condemnation and a warning from President Barack Obama that it could provoke al Qaeda suicide bombings and other Islamist violence around the world.
U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates had called Jones directly to urge him not to go ahead, a Pentagon official said.
Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said Gates had expressed 'grave concern' in the brief telephone call with Jones that the Koran burning 'would put the lives of our forces at risk, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan'.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/09/10/article-1310820-0B1EA127000005DC-43_468x351.jpg Conflict: Reverend Terry Jones's threat to burn the Koran has caused outrage in the the Muslim world
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/09/10/article-1310820-0B1CC8BC000005DC-223_468x334.jpg Controversial: Pastor Terry Jones of the Dove World Outreach Centre has said that he still might burn the Koran on September 11
A crowd, estimated at 10,000 by a government official, poured out of mosques into the streets of Faizabad, the capital of Badakhshan in Afghanistan's northeast, after special prayers for Eid al-Fitr, the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
One protester was shot dead when a smaller group attacked a German-run Nato base in Faizabad, hurling stones at the outpost, a spokesman for the provincial government said.
Afghan security forces rushed to the scene to restore order and three police were hurt when hit by stones thrown by the crowd, the spokesman said.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/09/10/article-1310820-0B1BF18B000005DC-354_468x286.jpg Burning: Muslim protesters burn an effigy of Reverend Terry Jones to show how offensive they find his suggestion of burning the Koran
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/09/10/article-1310820-0B1EBD44000005DC-621_468x337.jpg Chilling: The Muslim community stood together in the face of America after Rev Terry Jones said that he would burn the Koran
A spokesman for the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force in Kabul said ISAF was aware of protests happening in Faizabad and were checking the incident.
Eight Christian aid workers were killed by unidentified gunmen in remote and rugged Badakhshan last month.
Several hundred gathered in a northern district of Kabul, while about 2,000 marched on a government building in western Farah, officials and witnesses said.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/09/10/article-1310820-0B1EA632000005DC-337_468x308.jpg A banner bearing the writing in English and Arabic 'Burning the Koran is shame on Americans' outside a mosque as Iraqis hold a copy of the holy book during the first day of the Eid Al-Fitr in Baghdad
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/09/10/article-1310820-0B1EC11D000005DC-139_468x319.jpg Muslims offer Friday prayers during the holy month of Ramadan outside a mosque in Kolkata, India
There were also protests in nearby Badghis in the northwest and Ghor and Herat in the west.
Similar protests over perceived desecration of Muslim symbols have led to dozens of deaths in Afghanistan in recent years, including after a Danish newspaper published a cartoon depicting the Prophet Mohammad in 2005.
In eastern Nangahar, tribal chiefs threatened to attack Nato bases near the Pakistan border if Jones went ahead with the plan.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/09/10/article-1310820-0B1E2CF5000005DC-532_468x312.jpg Shoeing: Muslims make their feelings be shown as they wallop an effigy of Rev. Terry Jones with their shoes - one of the biggest insults in the Muslim world
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/09/10/article-1310820-0B1E3512000005DC-846_468x591.jpg Effigy: Rev Terry Jones is turned in to a dummy and hit with shoes by Muslims angered by his views
'If they do this, we will attack American bases and close the highway used by convoys supplying American troops,' a cleric named Zahidullah told Reuters.
At mosques in the capital, clerics also labelled the plan dangerous.
'Muslims are ready to sacrifice their sons, fathers and mothers for Islam and the Koran,' one preacher said at one Kabul mosque to cries of 'Allahu Akbar' (God is Greatest).
A spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry condemned the planned action as 'a provocative and satanic act', according to Iran's semi-official Mehr news agency.
On Thursday, the top U.N. diplomat in Afghanistan said protests could force the delay of parliamentary elections set for September 18.
The polls are seen as a key test of stability in Afghanistan before Obama conducts a war strategy review in December.
Obama has said the plan, dismissed by conservatives and liberals alike as an attention-seeking stunt, would be a 'recruitment bonanza' for al Qaeda.
Obama has sought to improve relations with the world's 1.5 billion Muslims.
The United States has powerful legal protections for the right to free speech and there was little law enforcement authorities could do to stop Jones from going ahead, other than citing him under local bylaws against public burning.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1310820/Man-shot-Terry-Jones-9-11-Koran-burning-protests-Afghanistan-NATO-base.html#ixzz0zA8QlnfC