Afghan mob beheads two UN workers

AT least eight foreign UN workers were killed, two of them beheaded, yesterday in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif after a demonstration against the burning of Korans by a US preacher, a regional police spokesman said.

“Eight foreigners were killed and two were beheaded,” said Lal Mohammad Ahmadzai, a police spokesman for the northern region.

Over a thousand protesters had flooded into the streets of the normally peaceful city after Friday prayers, and after two or three hours violence broke out.

A small group attacked the UN compound, throwing stones and climbing on blast barriers to try and enter.

A police source, who declined to be named as he was not authorised to speak to the media, said protesters had stormed into the compound where they attacked the victims.

The chief of the mission in the city was wounded but survived, and the dead included employees of Norwegian, Romanian and Swedish nationalities, he added.

A UN spokesman confirmed that there had been deaths of personnel at the mission in Mazar-i-Sharif but declined to give further details, saying the situation on the ground was still confusing.

Staffan De Mistura, the top UN representative in Afghanistan, was heading to Mazar-i-Sharif to handle the matter personally, he added.

Thousands of demonstrators marched through western Herat city and around 200 in Kabul, but there was no violence at either protest.

Russia called on the Afghan government and international forces to “take all necessary measures” to protect UN workers in a statement issued by the foreign ministry after the attack.

If the death toll given by the Afghan police is correct, it would make it the deadliest attack on the UN in Afghanistan.

The worst previous attack was an insurgent assault on a guesthouse where UN staff were staying in October 2009. Five employees were killed and nine wounded.

But it was not clear if yesterday’s killings had any direct link to the insurgency, or were simply a product of broader anti-Western sentiment.