UN Workers Die in Koran-Burning Protest

Afghans protesting last month's Koran burning in Florida
By Damon Albarn,  Newser User
Posted Apr 1, 2011 10:32 AM CDT Posted Apr 1, 2011 10:32 AM CDT
Promoted on Newser Apr 1, 2011 11:50 AM CDT
UN Staff Die In Koran Burning Protest
An Afghan protestor holds a poster at a demonstration against the United States and the Dove Outreach Center's pastor Terry Jones in Mazar-e-Sharif, north of Kabul, Afghanistan, Sept. 9, 2010.   (AP)

An attack on a UN compound during a protest in Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan, ended with the loss of at least eight UN workers' lives, reports the BBC. Several hundred Afghans were protesting the March 20 burning of a Koran in a church in Florida, when the protest, initially peaceful, turned violent. Witnesses say a small group broke off, grabbed weapons from the UN compound's guards, and stormed the building. The UN confirmed the deaths but described the situation as "confusing."

Pastor Wayne Sapp set light to a copy of the Koran last month, an event witnessed by Terry Jones, another US pastor who had generated controversy with his aborted plan to burn the Koran on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. There were protests against the burning in various Afghan cities today in what was described as "a day of anger." Click for more on the Koran burning. (More Afghanistan stories.)

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