2 Afghans, NATO soldier killed in Quran protest

www.chinaview.cn 2008-05-23 20:03:36   Print

    BEIJING, May 23 (Xinhuanet) -- 

A NATO soldier and two Afghani civilians were killed Thursday when protests in Afghanistan over the shooting of a copy of the Holy Qur'an by a U.S. soldier turned violent, officials said.

    NATO spokesman Maj. Martin O'Donnell said demonstrators were protesting near a military airfield in western Ghor province and began to throw rocks and set tents on fire. Police opened fire on demonstrators when the protest became violent, killing two civilians and wounding seven others, he said.

    Gunfire killed one NATO soldier and wounded another, but it was not clear who shot at them, O'Donnell said.

    "We don't know if it was one of the protesters, a (Taliban fighter) among the protesters or a (Taliban fighter) sniper outside the protest. We have no indication that it was the Afghan National Police," O'Donnell told The Associated Press. 

    Ghor provincial police chief Shah Jahan Noori said about 1,000 demonstrators had gathered to protest the Quran shooting in Iraq.

    "Among these people were a (Taliban fighter), who opened fire," Noori said, adding that 10 policemen were also wounded.

    Provincial council member Ahmad Khan Rahimi was among the protesters and estimated the crowd at 2,000 people. He said they chanted "Death to America" and "America is against Islam."

    The U.S. military said Sunday it had disciplined the sniper and removed him from Iraq after he was found to have used Islam's holy book for target practice on May 9.

    (Agencies)

U.S. Bush apologizes over Qur'an shooting in Iraq

www.chinaview.cn 2008-05-20 19:53:48

    BAGHDAD, May 20 (Xinhua) --

U.S. President George W. Bush has apologized to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki over the shooting of the holy Quran by an American soldier, Iraqi official television reported on Tuesday.

    "The prime minister received an apology from U.S. President George W. Bush on the incident of shooting of a copy of the Holy Qur'an by a U.S. soldier," the state-run television al-Iraqia said.

    On May 11, the Iraqi police found the desecrated copy of the Islamic holy book at a small shooting range near a police station in Radwaniyah. The volume was riddled with bullets and had graffiti inside the cover.

    Later, the U.S. military apologized to the local community leaders in Radwaniyah, a mostly Sunni district on Baghdad's southwestern outskirts.

    A U.S. military spokesman viewed the incident as both "serious and deeply troubling" but stressed that it was an "isolated incident and a result of one soldier's action."

    U.S. commanders have undertaken disciplinary action against the soldier who was involved, and he has been removed from Iraq to the United States, he said without releasing the name of the shooter or how he would be disciplined.

    On Monday, the Iraqi Islamic Party, headed by Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, said apology by U.S. commanders in Iraq is not enough.

    "Such offences have occurred frequently during the past few years and apology is no more enough and the U.S. military has to take stronger measures to honor values of Muslims," the party said in a statement.

Iraq party: Punish U.S. soldier who shot the Holy Qur'an

www.chinaview.cn 2008-05-19 19:36:17  

    BAGHDAD, May 19 (Xinhua) --

A key Iraqi Sunni party demanded Monday the U.S. military to take a tough action against its soldier who used a copy of holy Quran as a target practice, saying apology is not "enough."

    The Iraqi Islamic Party, headed by Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, said in a statement that it "demands the U.S. administration to deal firmly with this desecration to make the soldier an example for others in the future."

    The party also demanded the Iraqi government to take an appropriate position toward the "humiliation of Muslims by this heinous crime," said the statement obtained by Xinhua.

    "Such offenses have occurred frequently during the past few years and apology is no more enough and the U.S. military has to take stronger measures to honor values of Muslims," stressed the statement.

    Earlier, the U.S. military apologized to the local community leaders in Radwaniyah, a mostly Sunni district on Baghdad's southwestern outskirts.

    A U.S. military spokesman viewed the incident as both "serious and deeply troubling," but stressed that it was an "isolated incident and a result of one soldier's action."

    U.S. commanders have undertaken disciplinary action against the soldier who was involved, and he has been removed from Iraq to the United States, the spokesman said, without releasing the name of the shooter or how he would be disciplined.

    On May 11, the Iraqi police found the desecrated copy of the Islamic holy book at a small shooting range near a police station in Radwaniyah. The volume was riddled with bullets and had graffiti inside the cover.