Nepal rioters ransack mosque in Iraq deaths protest

Thousands of protesters ransacked a mosque and clashed with police in the Nepalese capital today to protest the killing of 12 Nepalese hostages by Iraqi militants.

“We want revenge,” demonstrators shouted as they stormed the Jama mosque - the only Muslim house of worship in Katmandu. They broke windows and set fire to carpets, furniture and parts of the building, which was empty at the time.

Police fired tear gas in an unsuccessful attempt to disperse the mob.

In other parts of the capital, protesters blamed the government for not doing enough to secure the release of the 12 Nepalese contract workers, who were slain by their Iraqi captors.

The angry mob stoned buildings and blocked traffic by burning tires on main intersections.

The offices of many agencies that send workers abroad also were attacked.

A gruesome video posted on a website yesterday showed militants slitting the neck of one Nepalese worker and shooting 11 others. They had disappeared soon after entering Iraq from Jordan on August 19.

Nepal condemned the killings as a “heinous crime against the innocent civilians”.

“This barbarian act of terrorism to kill innocent civilians without asking for any conditions for their release is against the minimum behaviour of human civilisation,” the government said in a statement.

The kidnappers had demanded that Nepal stop sending its citizens to work in Iraq, although the government already banned them from doing so because of safety concerns and it also had rejected US requests to contribute troops.

But many people from the impoverished Himalayan nation work abroad, and Nepalese are known to work for foreign contractors in Iraq.

Nepal’s ambassador to Qatar, Shyamananda Suman, who handles the country’s affairs in the Persian Gulf region, said his government tried to make contact with the militants holding the 12 Nepalese.

“There were no demands from the kidnappers to negotiate, and then all of a sudden we hear that they killed them,” Suman said.

“We wanted to get in touch with the kidnappers, but there was no way to do so. I talked to the media and appealed to the kidnappers to set them free or at least to know their demands, but all that went in vain.”