Barack Obama described the killings “outrageous,” Koran burning as “intolerance and bigotry”.
KABUL – At least 20 people were killed and several dozen others injured in violent protests that erupted in Jalalabad in east Afghanistan over the burning of a Quran by a radical Christian preacher in the United States, a source in the country’s security forces said on Sunday, RIA Novosti reports. The actions of Christian preacher Terry Jones, who supervised the burning of the Quran at a church in Florida on March 20, have outraged Muslims worldwide and triggered riots in Afghanistan where protesters stormed a UN compound in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif on Friday, killing seven UN foreign staff.
On Saturday, at least 10 people were killed and 83 wounded in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar.
U.S. President Barack Obama on Saturday called “outrageous” the killings in Afghanistan in response to the burning of a Quran by a radical Christian preacher in the United States.
“The desecration of any holy text, including the Quran, is an act of extreme intolerance and bigotry. However, to attack and kill innocent people in response is outrageous, and an affront to human decency and dignity,” Obama said in a statement released by the White House.
ban, karzai talk over deadly attack on un staff
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon on Saturday expressed his sadness and shock over the deadly attack on UN staff in Afghanistan during a phone call with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, according to a UN readout released from the office of Ban’s spokesperson, Xinhua reports.
