7 NATO troops injured in US base grenade attack
Source: Agencies |
February 27, 2012, Monday
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Protesters angry over Quran burnings by American troops lobbed grenades at a US base in northern Afghanistan and clashed with police and troops in a day of violence that left seven international troops wounded and two Afghans dead.
The top American diplomat in the country said the spike in tensions between the United States and Afghanistan caused by the burnings, including the killing of two American military advisers on Saturday at an Afghan ministry, would not diminish Washington's commitment to the region.
"Tensions are running very high here and I think we need to let things calm down, return to a more normal atmosphere, and then get on with business," Ambassador Ryan Crocker told CNN's "State of the Union."
Yesterday's violence was the latest in six days of riots across the country by Afghans furious at the way some Qurans at an American base outside Kabul were disposed of in a burn pit.
The incident swiftly spiraled out of control leaving dozens of people dead, including four US troops killed by their Afghan counterparts.
Afghan authorities have launched a manhunt across the country for a driver they suspect in the killing of two US military advisers shot to death at an Afghan ministry a day earlier. International advisers working at Afghan ministries were recalled out of fears of another attack.
In Kunduz province, thousands of demonstrators started out protesting peacefully but then the group turned violent as they tried to enter the district's largest city, said Amanuddin Quriashi, district administrator. People in the crowd fired on police and threw grenades at a US base on the city outskirts, he said.
Seven NATO troops were wounded and one protester was killed when troops fired from the US base, Quriashi said. Another demonstrator was killed by Afghan police, he said. Provincial police spokesman Sarwar Hussaini confirmed the casualties.
A NATO spokesman said that an explosion occurred outside the base, but that the grenades did not breach its defenses.
More than 30 people have been killed in clashes since it emerged last Tuesday that copies of the holy book and other religious materials had been thrown into a pit used to burn garbage at Bagram Air Field.
NATO and the British government recalled their international advisers from Afghan ministries in the capital late on Saturday after the two advisers - a lieutenant colonel and a major - were found dead in their office, shot in the back of the head.
The main suspect in the shooting is an Afghan man who worked as a driver for an office on the same floor as the advisers, Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqi said.
The Taliban claimed the shooter was one of their sympathizers and that an accomplice had helped him get into the compound to kill the Americans in retaliation for the burnings.
President Barack Obama and other US officials have apologized for the burnings, which they said were a mistake. But their apologies have failed to quell the anger of Afghans, who see the Quran burnings as an illustration of what they perceive as foreign disrespect for their culture and religion.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai renewed his calls for calm in a televised address to the nation.
"Now is the time to return to calm and not let our enemies use this situation," he said.
The top American diplomat in the country said the spike in tensions between the United States and Afghanistan caused by the burnings, including the killing of two American military advisers on Saturday at an Afghan ministry, would not diminish Washington's commitment to the region.
"Tensions are running very high here and I think we need to let things calm down, return to a more normal atmosphere, and then get on with business," Ambassador Ryan Crocker told CNN's "State of the Union."
Yesterday's violence was the latest in six days of riots across the country by Afghans furious at the way some Qurans at an American base outside Kabul were disposed of in a burn pit.
The incident swiftly spiraled out of control leaving dozens of people dead, including four US troops killed by their Afghan counterparts.
Afghan authorities have launched a manhunt across the country for a driver they suspect in the killing of two US military advisers shot to death at an Afghan ministry a day earlier. International advisers working at Afghan ministries were recalled out of fears of another attack.
In Kunduz province, thousands of demonstrators started out protesting peacefully but then the group turned violent as they tried to enter the district's largest city, said Amanuddin Quriashi, district administrator. People in the crowd fired on police and threw grenades at a US base on the city outskirts, he said.
Seven NATO troops were wounded and one protester was killed when troops fired from the US base, Quriashi said. Another demonstrator was killed by Afghan police, he said. Provincial police spokesman Sarwar Hussaini confirmed the casualties.
A NATO spokesman said that an explosion occurred outside the base, but that the grenades did not breach its defenses.
More than 30 people have been killed in clashes since it emerged last Tuesday that copies of the holy book and other religious materials had been thrown into a pit used to burn garbage at Bagram Air Field.
NATO and the British government recalled their international advisers from Afghan ministries in the capital late on Saturday after the two advisers - a lieutenant colonel and a major - were found dead in their office, shot in the back of the head.
The main suspect in the shooting is an Afghan man who worked as a driver for an office on the same floor as the advisers, Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqi said.
The Taliban claimed the shooter was one of their sympathizers and that an accomplice had helped him get into the compound to kill the Americans in retaliation for the burnings.
President Barack Obama and other US officials have apologized for the burnings, which they said were a mistake. But their apologies have failed to quell the anger of Afghans, who see the Quran burnings as an illustration of what they perceive as foreign disrespect for their culture and religion.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai renewed his calls for calm in a televised address to the nation.
"Now is the time to return to calm and not let our enemies use this situation," he said.
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