Death toll in Kandahar unrest over Quran burning rises to 38

The number of victims of the unrest in the Afghan city of Kandahar over the public burning of a Quran by a U.S. pastor has risen to 38, with 84 wounded, Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry said on Sunday.

The violence in Afghanistan started on Friday in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, where seven UN workers and four protesters died when a mob stormed a United Nations office. It moved on Saturday to the southern city of Kandahar, continuing on Sunday and spreading to Jalalabad in the east, where at least 20 people were killed.

The actions of Christian preacher Terry Jones, who supervised the burning of Islam’s holy book at a church in Florida on March 20, have outraged Muslims worldwide.

U.S. President Barack Obama on Saturday called the killings in Afghanistan “outrageous.”

“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.

Russia on Friday condemned the “unacceptable” attack on the UN mission in Mazar-i-Sharif and demanded that measures be taken to stop violence against United Nations staff.

KABUL, April 3 (RIA Novosti)

Leave a comment