Mobs attack mosque in protest over hostage deaths

THOUSANDS of people rampaged through Kathmandu, setting fire to a mosque and Arab targets and ransacking employment agencies after 12 Nepalese hostages were murdered in Iraq.

Two men were shot and slightly wounded by security guards when they tried to storm the Egyptian embassy, which represents Iraqi interests in the Himalayan kingdom, police said.

The streets returned to normal after the government clamped an indefinite curfew and declared a national day of mourning today for the victims of the worst hostage massacre since the US-led invasion.

Demonstrators, some chanting “Punish the Muslims!” swept through Kathmandu early yesterday, throwing stones and ransacking any targets with Arabic-language script.

Protesters climbed on top of and set fire to the Jama Masjid mosque, the largest shrine of the city’s small Muslim minority.

Riot police used batons to push the crowd of some 5,000 people out of a sensitive central area which includes King Gyanendra’s Narayanhity Palace.

The protests erupted late Tuesday after news that the 12, who left the impoverished nation in search of jobs, were murdered by militants who abducted them about 10 days ago.

The kidnappers accused them of co-operating with US forces.

A mob made up mainly of youths broke windows of more than a dozen employment agencies blamed for sending Nepalese to Iraq and set fire to their vehicles, furniture and computers.

An employee at Qatar Airways, one of the main airlines used by Nepalese seeking jobs in the Middle East, said dozens of angry people stormed into their premises and smashed furniture before setting the building on fire. The employee estimated damage in the tens of thousands of dollars.

Protesters also demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, saying that he should take responsibility for the failure to free the hostages. The government had repeatedly stressed that Nepal, which is fighting a bloody Maoist rebellion, was not part of the US-led coalition in Iraq. Deuba appealed for calm in an address to the nation yesterday: “The terrorists who committed this gruesome act don’t have any religion or principles.

“I call upon all citizens of Nepal to have patience. “We made honest efforts to save them but the militants never spelt out their conditions,” said Deuba. “We are now trying our best to bring back the bodies of the victims.”

His government announced compensation of one million rupees €11,800 ($14,400) for the families of each of the 12 slain hostages, a major sum in the one of the world’s poorest countries.

The Himalayan capital’s skies were patrolled by army helicopters yesterday, which were last called out last week when Maoist rebels who are fighting to overthrow the monarchy ordered a halt to traffic to and from the city of 1.5 million people.