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Obama Wars Title: 9 dead in new protests in Afghanistan against US Koran burning KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- At least nine people died Saturday in new protests against a Koran burning in the US, a day after seven UN staff were killed by a mob in the worst attack on the world body in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion. The fresh protests began from the center of the main southern city of Kandahar and spread to other locations as police clashed with crowds marching towards the UN offices and provincial administration headquarters, AFP reported. "Today as result of violent demonstrations in Kandahar city 73 people are wounded and nine people are martyred," the administration said in a statement. The protesters damaged government and private buildings and torched vehicles, it added. Police fired into the air to try to prevent thousands of protesters marching towards the UN offices and provincial administration headquarters in the city, an AFP reporter at the scene said. Kandahar is the spiritual heartland of the Taliban, who have fought an insurgency against President Hamid Karzai's government in Kabul and its Western allies since they were ousted by the US-led invasion. "Death to America" and "Death to Karzai" chanted the demonstrators. "They have insulted our Koran," shouted one. The protest came a day after seven UN foreign staff -- three Europeans and four Nepalese guards -- were killed during similar demonstrations in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif. The Nepalese guards fought desperately against armed protesters, but were overwhelmed and died with the three workers they were protecting at the compound in the normally relatively calm city. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the Mazar-i-Sharif violence following a battle lasting more than three hours in which part of the building was burned down amid small-arms fire and explosions. US President Barack Obama condemned the attack "in the strongest possible terms," while UN chief Ban Ki-moon said it was "an outrageous and cowardly attack." The UN did not announce the nationalities of the three civilian staff killed. But Sweden named one as 33-year-old Swede, Joakim Dungel. Norway said Lieutenant Colonel Siri Skare, a 53-year-old female pilot, was killed. Diplomats said the third was a Romanian. The attackers broke away from a large demonstration in the city against the burning of a Koran, Islam's holy book, at an evangelical church in Florida. "Some of them were clearly armed and they stormed into the building" and set it on fire, UN peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy told reporters after briefing the Security Council at UN headquarters in New York. "The security guards, who were the Gurkhas, tried their best but the number was so high that they were not able to prevent it," he added. He denied reports that two of the dead were beheaded, but said one victim had his throat cut. Balkh provincial governor Atta Mohammad Noor said five other people, thought to be protesters, were also killed, while at least 20 people were wounded in the fighting. About 20 people were arrested, he said. Hundreds of people had taken to the streets of Mazar-i-Sharif to protest against last month's Koran burning and local police spokesman Lal Mohammad Ahmadzai said Taliban militants had infiltrated the demonstrators. An unknown number of UN staff were wounded and had been evacuated, Le Roy said. But the Mazar-i-Sharif base would remain open, he insisted. Friday's attack was the worst suffered by the world body since a bomb blast at the UN compound in Algiers in 2007 in which 17 staff died. Before Friday's violence, Afghanistan had condemned the "disrespectful and abhorrent" burning of the Koran at the Dove World Outreach Center, an evangelical church in Gainesville, Fla., calling it an effort to incite tension between religions. Pastor Terry Jones, the head of the church, told AFP that "we don't feel responsible" for the attack, adding, "The radical element of Islam takes [the burning] as an excuse to promote their violent activities." Speaking to Sky News, the pastor attempted to defend the burning of the Koran and launched another attack on Islam. He described Friday's deaths as "tragic and criminal."
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#2. To: Happy Quanzaa (#0)
That's good bang for the buck, considering it's just one stinking koran burned. They could save a lot of money by putting up an "eternal burning koran" in front of the Pentagon. Bring in a boxcar full of koran's, and just keep stoking it. Bring the troops home, and let them kill each other off while watching koran's burn on TV.
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