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.
Not claiming to be a Biblical scholar, wasn't there something about 1/3 of mankind being wiped out toward the end? If my math is correct 2 billion muslims by 6 billion total world pop. would seem to be about 1/3.
With another 9-11 type attack, I would expect to see a similar reaction in the US and likely calls for a wholesale roundup of Arab nationals for internment and deportaion.
Well the Islamanuts really tore their ass on this one. What do you want to bet there wont be any more Nepalese taken hostage.
terrorists kill US citizen from PA and his parents attack - not terrorists -- but us military -- bush administration.
Good point. Political correctness has fostered genuine insanity in this country. Fifty years ago, who would have thought that such sniveling spinelessness would be celebrated and encouraged by so many?
>>these extremists are going to instigate a world wide war on Islam if they keep this up, and lots of innocent people will be slaughtered.
Very true. Either Muslims handle their own extremists, or they will feel the pain of mass retribution that will be indiscriminate. Ask, say, WWII Germans and Japanese, about how that works out, when you let the extremists take power.
Wait til the next arab/muzzie attacks.
Enough is enough.
Picture from the Islamist Army of Ansar al-Sunna website of an armed man next to the bodies of five Nepalese men. Fears mounted for two French journalists held hostage by Islamic militants in Iraq as Nepal was plunged into mourning by reports 12 of its citizens were brutally murdered by their kidnappers.(AFP/HO)
"There is no connection between the Iraqi terrorists who killed Nepalis and the Nepali Muslims who are being attacked by mobs."
How the hell would you know?
I hear what you are saying but "cleaning house" with Islam will be like the Herculean task of cleaning the Augean Stables!
Goldstein, in his actions, was a "Man bites Dog" story.
The Gurka (who are Nepalese) motto:
KAPHAR HUNNU BHANDA MORNU RAMRO CHHAA
IT IS BETTER TO DIE THAN LIVE A COWARD
Watch it there. The thought police and the ACLU would have you in court in 5 minutes.
George W. Bush reelected by a margin of at least ten per cent
Many protesters also demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, saying he should take responsibility for the failure to free the hostages.
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That's the stupidity of people - blame the employment agency and the Prime Minister instead of the stinking scumbag terrorists.
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.
Yes, but like Herculese it can be done.. provided that Muslims truly as a group do desire peace and liberty. They likely won't be able to do it alone, and yes more blood of the west will flow to help them... but if they truly desire it, and the west does not run from its moral obligations, it too can be done.
The alternate to both Muslims and the West is a war of biblical proportions that will show the barbarism of 9/11/2001 to be nothing. THere are 2 Billion Muslims in the world today, and they CANNOT in any stretch of the imagination win an open conflict with the west. IF the Islamofacists succeed in turning this into a full scale Muslim V West open conflict take no prisoners... The Deserts of Asia will be stained red with blood for generations.
Islam will not survive an open war with the west, if the west is forced to a strictly all or nothing scenario, it will be cataclysmic.
Muhammadans have sown to the wind and have no clue just yet what reaping the whirlwind means...
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