{"id":359234,"date":"2011-04-01T20:16:56","date_gmt":"2011-04-01T20:16:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/04\/01\/u-n-staffers-killed-in-afghanistan\/"},"modified":"2011-04-01T20:16:56","modified_gmt":"2011-04-01T20:16:56","slug":"u-n-staffers-killed-in-afghanistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/01\/u-n-staffers-killed-in-afghanistan\/","title":{"rendered":"U.N. staffers killed in Afghanistan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><div readability=\"103.61678740944\"><!-- google_ad_section_start --><!-- CONTENT -->  <!-- REAP --><!--startclickprintexclude--><!--===========CAPTION==========--><\/p>\n<div readability=\"9\">\n<p>Smoke rises from the U.N. building in Mazar-e Sharif on Friday where 12 people died of violence, including eight U.N. staffers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--===========\/CAPTION=========--> <!--endclickprintexclude--><!-- \/REAP --><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p><b>STORY HIGHLIGHTS<\/b><\/p>\n<ul><!-- google_ad_section_start --><\/p>\n<li><b>NEW:<\/b> The Security Council is to meet to discuss the attack<\/li>\n<li>U.N. source: Nepalese, Norwegian, Swedish and Romanian workers died<\/li>\n<li>Protesters were angered over the burning of a Quran at a U.S. church, sources say<\/li>\n<li>The pastor says the attack shows that &#8220;time has come to hold Islam accountable.&#8221;<\/li>\n<p><!-- google_ad_section_end --><\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><em>Check out CNN.com&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/afghanistan.blogs.cnn.com\/?iref=allsearch\">Afghanistan Crossroads<\/a> blog for the latest developments, and the <a href=\"http:\/\/religion.blogs.cnn.com\/2011\/04\/01\/timeline-of-floridas-quran-burning-pastor\/\">Belief Blog<\/a> for a timeline of Florida&#8217;s Quran-burning pastor. <\/em><\/p>\n<p><!--endclickprintexclude--> <!--startclickprintinclude--> <\/p>\n<p><b>Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN)<\/b> &#8212; At least 12 people were killed Friday in an attack on a U.N. building in Afghanistan that followed a demonstration against the reported burning last month of a Quran in Florida, authorities and a U.N. source with knowledge of the events said.<\/p>\n<p>Eight workers for the United Nations and four Afghans were killed, said Abdul Rauof Taj, security director of Bulkh province. At least 24 people were injured, he said. <\/p>\n<p>A U.N .source confirmed the dead included four Nepalese security guards as well as U.N. workers from Norway, Sweden and Romania.<\/p>\n<p>The attack followed a demonstration against the reported burning of a Quran by Florida pastor Terry Jones, who gained international attention last year when he announced that he was planning to burn a Quran, the U.N. source with knowledge of events said.<\/p>\n<p>Jones is the pastor of the 60-member Dove World Outreach Center church near Gainesville. Last year, after an outcry followed his announcement of plans to burn a Quran on the ninth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, he canceled them. Last month, however, he reportedly did burn Islam&#8217;s holy book.<\/p>\n<p> The church says on its website that it planned to put the Quran on trial on March 20, and, &#8220;if found guilty of causing murder, rape and terrorism, it will be executed!&#8221; Another post on the website, which uses an alternative spelling for the book, says &#8220;the Koran was found guilty&#8221; during the mock trial and &#8220;a copy was burned inside the building.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>On Friday, Jones said in an e-mailed statement that the attack in Afghanistan shows that &#8220;the time has come to hold Islam accountable.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;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,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>The attack occurred at the operations center of the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan in Mazar-e Sharif, said Dan McNorton, a U.N. spokesman.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The situation is still confusing and we are currently working to ascertain all the facts and take care of all our staff,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Initial indications were that knives and small arms were used in the attack, according to a U.N. spokesman who declined to be identified.<\/p>\n<p>Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai called the attacks &#8220;an act against Islam and Afghan values.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said it &#8220;was a cowardly attack that cannot be justified.&#8221; In New York, the U.N. Security Council was to meet at 5 p.m. Friday in closed session to discuss the attack.<\/p>\n<p>NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the victims were only trying to help the Afghan people.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;In targeting them, the attackers have demonstrated an appalling disregard for what the U.N. and the entire international community are trying to do for the benefit of all Afghans,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>U.S. President Barack Obama also condemned the attack. &#8220;We stress the importance of calm and urge all parties to reject violence and resolve differences through dialogue,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>White House spokesman Jay Carney said he would not speculate on the motivation behind the attack, but added that it was &#8220;in no way justified, regardless of what the motivation was.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The United Nations&#8217; special representative to Afghanistan, Staffan de Mistura, was en route to Mazar-e Sharif to assess the situation, McNorton said.<\/p>\n<p><!--endclickprintinclude--><!-- google_ad_section_end --><br \/>\n<!-- \/cnn_strybtmcntnt --><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p>[Read more here|Read the original here|Read more from the original source|Continued here|Read more|More here|View original post here|More|See more here|See original here|Originally posted here|Here is the original post|See the original post|The rest is here|Read the rest here|See the rest here|Go here to read the rest|Go here to see the original|See the original post here|Read the original post|Original post|Read the original|Link|Excerpt from|View post|Visit link|Follow this link|Continue reading here|See the article here|Read this article<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> Smoke rises from the U.N. building in Mazar-e Sharif on Friday where 12 people died of violence, including eight U.N. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-359234","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-business"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - 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