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| Afghanistan |
| 'Forced' Protest Quelled in Afghan West |
| 2009-10-04 |
| Afghan troops overwhelmed a protest rally in western Afghanistan which was provoked after a mosque desecration rumour on Friday Taliban militants in the western Afghan province of Nimroz on Friday forced civilians to protest against foreign forces after spreading rumours they had desecrated a mosque, provincial governor, Ghulam Dastgir Azad said. "Taliban stopped buses on the highway in Delaram district on a junction where passengers from Herat, Farah and Nimroz provinces travel and forced them to protest against foreign forces," Nimroz Governor told the Associated Press. The governor added that insurgents used the public as human shields to fire on police during the protest. Two people have been killed and three others were wounded in the gun battle erupted by the protest as the insurgents set a number of police checkpoints on fire, according to local officials. Police forces also sustained injuries in the exchange of fire, Governor Azad said, adding they are in stable heath condition. US Marines in Delaram said the protest involved some 200 to 300 people. Tyres were set on fire and the demonstrators marched towards the police station shouting anti-American slogans. A US officer in Dilaram told AFP it took the Afghan National Army (ANA) almost three hours to quell the unrest. The governor and the US military said the protest was whipped up after the Taliban spread rumours that foreign forces in the area had desecrated the Koran during their operations and thrown a dead dog into a mosque last week. The US office said the desecration rumours were "Taliban propaganda... to damage our credibility and this (incident) was part of the result". "We have been pushing the message out for the past couple of days that we did not do what they are alleging," he added. |
| Posted by:Fred |