Posted on 09/01/2004 7:48:14 AM PDT by Alouette
KATHMANDU (AFP) - 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 and a doctor said.
The streets returned to normal after the government clamped an indefinite curfew and declared a national day of mourning Thursday for the victims of the worst hostage massacre in Iraq since the US-led invasion.
Demonstrators, some chanting "Punish the Muslims!", swept through Kathmandu early Wednesday, 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, after pulling out its furniture and electrical equipment for a sidewalk bonfire.
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, a police officer said.
The mosque suffered only minor damage but many of its contents were destroyed.
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 cooperating 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, police said.
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.
Many protesters also demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, saying 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 Wednesday.
"The terrorists who committed this gruesome act don't have any religion or principles. I call upon all citizens of Nepal to have patience," he said.
"We made honest efforts to save them but the militants never spelt out their conditions," Deuba said. "We are now trying our best to bring back the bodies of the victims."
His government announced compensation of one million rupees (14,400 dollars) 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, which were last called out last week when Maoist rebels fighting to overthrow the monarchy ordered a halt to traffic to and from the city of 1.5 million people.
Hindus make up more than 86 percent of the population in Nepal, the world's only officially Hindu state. But the kingdom has experienced little of the inter-religious violence that has scarred neighbouring India.
Muslims account for 3.8 percent of the 27 million population. Some 7.8 percent adhere to Buddhism in Nepal, which is the birthplace of the Buddha, with smaller religions comprising 2.2 percent.
Spontaneous protest strikes were called in the towns of Pokhara, Gorkha and Biratnagar with youths taking to the streets to stop vehicles.
A statement announcing the killings was posted on an Islamist website by an Al-Qaeda-linked group called the Army of Ansar al-Sunna.
It was accompanied by pictures of the grisly beheading of a blindfolded hostage, including one where his bloodied head was held up like a trophy by a hooded captor. A video showed the other Nepalese being shot.
Here, here (applause).
I nearly spit the coffee on my keyboard after this line.
In MEDINA, Muhammad asked Muslims to kill people if they do not accept Islam. "O prophet (Muhammad), incite the believers (Muslims) to fight." (K 8:65) "Fight them until there will be no apostasy and the religion becomes Allah's religion (Islam)." (K 8:39) "Kill the infidels (non-Muslims) wherever you find them, seize them and lie in wait to ambush them. If they repent (convert to Islam) and give alms let them go." (K 9:5) "Fight the infidels (non-Muslims) and the hypocrites (people who claim they are Muslims) and be harsh to them. Hell is their fate" (K 9:73) "I (Allah) will terrorize the hearts of the infidels (non-Muslims). Behead them and cut all their finger-tips because they did not believe in Allah and his messenger (Muhammad). If anyone does not believe in Allah and his messenger, Allah has severe punishment." (K 8:12)
I think it's interesting that the world (at least the Coalition) is trying to prevent a civil war between Muslims but the Muslim
Extremists are trying to create a world war.
The results of Nepal are exactly what the terrorists want. A chain of events to eventually divide Muslims and non-Muslims in a violent war. The innocent Muslims in Nepal our pawns.
They are *our* pawns? You a Muslim?
Let them suffer the consequences of their actions.
Maybe it would be better if the Nepalese would have protested the terrorists instead of damaging property of the employment agency and blaming their government.
It's the Nepalese version of "blame Bush". These 12 men chose to go to Iraq. The terrorists were going to kill them no matter what the government did.
30 seconds of google yields this:
The Accessions
1. [8.12] When your Lord revealed to the angels: I am with you, therefore make firm those who believe. I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them.
What would Jesus do?
Beats me. Ask a Christian.
And I think tat before this is over, the same techniques will be required. Don't forget that when that metaphorical "red button" was pressed, it was by a Democrat. In time of war, we do what we have to.
Every single muslim on earth is either a terrorist, or terrorist enabler.
Just as Islam explicitly forbids the slaughter of innocent lives. I know, Mohammad said "Let there be no compulsion in religion". However this scary, bloodthirsty religion has long since marched off a cliff from sanity, and I have no desire to get ANY information from a "Muslim source" any more than I get my news from the NYT or Pravda.
How about the Koran, or is that not a muslim source?
Convert or die or be enslaved via ridiculous tax.
Screw islam and all muslims. White, arab, black, Nepalese, whatever. Everywhere there is islam there is death, suffering, opression, and just plain evil.
Islam is going to get what it needs sooner or later.
bad typo. "are".
Regarding Russia. Take the Chechen mosques by storm and round up the clerics, demand they call off the sheep with rifles called rebels.
Uh-huh. Sure. Says you.
Take the mosques, shoot the clerics, and burn the mosques.
Send a real message.
Yep, says me.
"Thanks. You admit that you can't show a connection between Iraqi terrorists and Nepali Muslims. Don't let that stop your hate fest."
You mean a connection between the Iraqi terrorists muslims and the Nepali muslims. Or do you mean the connection with the Iranian muslim insurgents, or the Syrian muslim insurgents, or the muslim of the Bali massacre, or the muslims of the Ramadan or the muslims of the 311 massacre, or the muslims of 911 massacre, or the muslims holding 200 hundred children this very moment in Russia. Or the hundreds of other terrorists attacks by muslims that have occurred in the past decades. Nope, I see no connections there.
But you already know all of this, don't you. Your just a Muslim sympathizer troll. You have no interest in truth, only promoting muslim propaganda.
But hey, what's not to love about Muslims who take children hostages while wearing suicide explosive belts. Religion of peace my ass.
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