Accidental Burning of Qurans in Afghanistan Causes Uproar with Locals

Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan – During routine cleanup of the base, workers inadvertently threw out a stack of used Qurans along with, other religious materials, which wound up in a trash heap being burned at the base.

Afghani workers burning the trash noticed the books, and reportedly doused the flames with clothing, and mineral water. The group left the base screaming and crying via the front gate with tattered materials in hand as “evidence” those westerners were “out to get them” again. The following day, all hell broke loose at the front gates were hundreds of Afghani’s gathered, many workers from the base, firing bullets into the air, and throwing rocks and bottles at guards stationed at the gates.

“Die, die, die” was the byword of the day for the angry mob so anguished over the loss, or potential loss of a handful of books. Fearing the base was about to be overrun with religious fanatics, guards at the front gates returned gunfire using rubber bullets to repel the angry mob.

Fearing further backlash from the planned rubbish burn, NATO Officials released several messages, including videotaped messages explaining that troops that collected the materials were not instructed to destroy the materials however, the troops normally burn trash collected on the base. The NATO Officials admitted it was a mistake.

Fearing a spread of violence from religious leaders looking for any excuse to cause trouble in the region, base commanders led local religious leaders to the site of the burning allowing them to rummage through the remaining debris to retrieve what they could.

Afghan officials in the region were quick to react to the disturbance calming the group down for the meantime however, many threaten further violence if, they were not allowed to address President Karzai directly regarding the incident.

Posted by public on February 21, 2012. Filed under Afghanistan,Asia Regional News,Breaking News,Headline News,International - Headline News,International News,WorldNewsVine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry