Nine people died yesterday in new protests against a Koran burning in the US, a day after seven UN staff were killed by a mob in the worst attack on the world body in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion.
The fresh protests began from the center of the main southern city of Kandahar and spread to other locations as police clashed with crowds marching toward the UN offices and provincial administration headquarters, witnesses said.
“Today, as result of violent demonstrations in Kandahar City, 73 people are wounded and nine people are martyred,” the administration said in a statement.
The protesters damaged government and private buildings and torched vehicles, it added.
Police had fired into the air to try to prevent thousands of protesters marching toward the UN offices and provincial headquarters, a reporter at the scene said. Kandahar is the spiritual heartland of the Taliban, who have fought an insurgency against Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s government in Kabul and its Western allies since they were ousted by the US-led invasion.
“Death to America” and “Death to Karzai,” the demonstrators chanted.
“They have insulted our Koran,” one shouted.
One reporter saw two unidentified bodies being removed by demonstrators in Chawk Saheedan, a central location where the protests started.
Smoke was rising from different parts of the city as protesters burned cars and tires.
Zalmai Ayoubi, a spokesman for the provincial administration, said a bus and a girls’ school had also been set ablaze.
He said that “destructive elements have entered the crowds and are trying to turn it violent.”
Ayoubi added that all the dead and injured were protesters.
The administration said 16 people, seven of them armed, had been arrested.
The protest came a day after seven UN foreign staff — three Europeans and and four Nepalese guards — were killed during similar demonstrations in the normally relatively calm northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the Mazar-i-Sharif violence following a battle lasting more than three hours in which part of the UN compound was burned down amid small-arms fire and explosions.
US President Barack Obama condemned the attack “in the strongest possible terms,” while UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said it was “an outrageous and cowardly attack.”
Karzai telephoned Ban yesterday to expresses his sorrow over the incident, the president’s office said.
Before Friday’s violence, Afghanistan had condemned the “disrespectful and abhorrent” burning of the Koran at the Dove World Outreach Center, an evangelical church in Gainesville, Florida, calling it an effort to incite tension between religions.
Church head Pastor Terry Jones told AFP that “we don’t feel responsible” for the attack, adding: “The radical element of Islam takes [the burning] as an excuse to promote their violent activities.”
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source