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Cartoon protesters direct anger at US
(AP)
Updated: 2006-02-09 06:56
Police killed four people Wednesday as Afghans enraged over drawings of the
Prophet Muhammad marched on a U.S. military base in a volatile southern
province, directing their anger not against Europe but America.
The U.S. base was targeted because the United States "is the leader of Europe
and the leading infidel in the world," said Sher Mohammed, a 40-year-old farmer
who suffered a gunshot wound while taking part in the demonstration in the city
of Qalat.
Iranian protesters
throw stones at the building of the British embassy Wednesday Feb. 8, 2006
in Tehran. [AP] |
"They are all the enemy of Islam. They are occupiers in our country and must
be driven out," Mohammed said.
Wednesday's violence began when hundreds of protesters tried to storm the
U.S. base, said Ghulam Nabi Malakhail, a provincial police chief. When warning
shots failed to deter them, police shot into the crowd, killing four and
wounding 11, he said.
Flying rocks injured eight police and one Afghan soldier, he said.
Two Pakistanis arrested for allegedly firing at police were being questioned
to see whether they were linked to al-Qaida, Malakhail said. Some officials
accuse al-Qaida of inciting three days of bloody riots across Afghanistan that
have left 11 dead.
Protesters also burned three fuel tankers waiting to deliver gasoline to the
base, said Malakhail. He said U.S. troops fired warning shots into the air.
U.S. military spokesman Col. James Yonts said the American forces fired
flares above the crowd, but he said it was not clear whether they fired their
weapons.
Muslims around the world have demonstrated over the images — including one
depicting the prophet wearing a turban shaped as a bomb — printed in Western
media. Islam is interpreted to forbid any illustrations of the prophet.
In Baghdad, Iraq's top Shiite political leader criticized attacks on foreign
embassies by Muslims.
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