NewsBreakingOnline

Death toll unconfirmed after protesters storm Mazar-e-Sharif compound in response to Qur’an burning by US pastor The United Nations mission in Afghanistan has been thrown into jeopardy after protesters enraged by the burning of the Qur’an by a Christian extremist in the US stormed a UN compound in the north of the country and killed a number of foreign staff members. Afghan officials in the usually peaceful city of Mazar-e-Sharif gave varying accounts of what happened, with some UN officials saying the death toll could reach 20. Other reports said two UN staff members were beheaded by a mob that managed to break into the heavily defended compound. Equally unclear were the identities of the victims, with some claiming the UN chief in the city had been killed and others saying he was wounded but survived. One police official said four of the dead were Nepali, probably former Gurkha soldiers now working as security guards, while another three were foreign diplomats. Even if the total number of victims proves at the lower end, perhaps seven as some police sources have claimed, it will constitute the worst crisis to hit the international organisation since 2001. Under UN rules officials will have to consider pulling out staff members or shutting down operations all together. After an attack on a UN guesthouse in 2009 killed five staff members, hundreds of workers were temporarily relocated to Dubai while the organisation spent millions closing guesthouses and outfitting a base on the outskirts of Kabul. Staffan De Mistura, the overall head of all UN activities in the country, flew to Mazar to take stock of the disaster. One senior staff member said there had been “absolutely no discussion” of repositioning staff, but many UN workers feared the incident would mark yet another milestone in the gradual retreat of UN diplomats and aid workers into a world where they only see the inside of fortified compounds and armoured vehicles. The violence also represents a huge setback for the country as it sets out on an ambitious programme, which many sceptics believe is unachievable, of taking full control of its own security from foreign forces by 2014. Last week Hamid Karzai, the president, announced that the commercial hub of Mazar-e-Sharif would be one of the first areas to be transferred to Afghan control this year. Yet even in a city that has possibly the best security in the country, police were no match for the sudden outburst of violence, triggered by the activities of a fringe Christian group on the other side of the world, who burned a copy of the Qur’an in Florida on 21 March. A previous threat by the US pastor Terry Jones last year was prevented after David Petraeus, the commander of Nato troops in Afghanistan, warned that the lives of US soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan would be endangered. Although the burning went ahead with Jones in attendance more than a week ago, it was only on Friday that the matter was the subject of outraged prayers around Afghanistan. Afterwards thousands of people poured out of Mazar’s Blue Mosque after a tub-thumping sermon by the presiding mullah, with one police official estimating that there were 4,000 people on the streets of the city. The head of the Blue Mosque, Atiqullah Ansari, said only a minority were responsible for the violence, claiming they were the followers of a mullah who served under the Taliban regime. “They went to the UN compound and killed the foreigners. This is what they wanted,” he said. According to people in the throng some of the demonstrators had guns which they used to attack the building. The police responded in kind, shooting live rounds into the crowd. The city’s main hospital said it had treated 20 wounded people, most with bullet wounds. Among the four dead bodies in the hospital, one appeared to be a Nepalese national. Local television pictures showed a mob attacking the guard kiosk of the UN compound, which is surrounded by 12ft-high concrete blast walls. The surviving UN staff were said to be shellshocked and bewildered at the failings of security that had allowed their compound to be overwhelmed. Across the country the UN issued a “white city” order, forcing all staff members into a state of lockdown and banning them from leaving their compounds. Afghanistan United Nations United States Jon Boone guardian.co.uk