Two UN staff beheaded and five others murdered in protest against U.S. pastor who burnt Koran

*Koran burning pastor says 'The time has come to hold Islam accountable'
*U.N. sources say final death toll could rise as high as 20
*Taliban behind attacks, reports suggest
*Demonstrators at the burnings take place across the Middle East
*One of the dead is a 53-year-old female Norwegian pilot
*Mastermind behind attacks - a known militant - arrested say Afghan police
*Afghan authorities suspect insurgents blended into protesters
*Norwegian, Romanian, Swedish and Nepalese nationals among those killed

At least seven United Nations staff were murdered - two by beheading - after extremists stormed their compound in northern Afghanistan today.

According to reports, protesters in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif beheaded two U.N. guards, seized their weapons and began shooting those inside the compound after a demonstration against Koran burnings in the U.S. turned violent.

Reports emerged tonight that the Taliban had claimed responsibility for the attacks, saying they were part of a campaign of violence in the run up to presidential elections.

The bloodshed is the worst attack on the U.N. in Afghanistan since the war began in 2001.

 Firebrand: Pastor Terry Jones threatened to burn a koran last year and carried the threat out last month

Victim: The first named victim is 53-year-old Norwegian pilot Lt. Col Siri Skare who was working as a UN military advisor in the country

 Protest: Thousands of protectors flooded the streets of Mazar-i-Sharif chanting anti-American slogans before the violence broke out

Controversy: U.S. Pastor Terry Jones, pictured last September, gained worldwide attention after he planned to burn a Koran

At least four Afghan workers were also killed and officials fear the total death toll could rise to 20.

The rampage began when over a thousand protesters flooded into the streets after Friday prayers where they heard reports about the Koran burnings in America last month.

After slaying the guards, the armed mob scaled the compound's blast walls before setting fire to a guard tower and several other buildings.

An Afghan police source, who asked not to be named, said the chief of the mission in the city was wounded but survived.

Among those murdered were Norwegian, Romanian, Swedish and Nepalese nationals. Two were decapitated, it is understood.

And tonight pastor Terry Jones, the man many hold responsible for instigating the wave of protests, remained defiant over his decision to hold the Koran burning, saying it was time for 'Islam to be held accountable'.

He said: 'We must hold these countries and people accountable for what they have done as well as for any excuses they may use to promote their terrorist activities. The time has come to hold Islam accountable.

'Our United States government and our President must take a close, realistic look at the radical element Islam. Islam is not a religion of peace.

'We demand action from the United Nations. Muslim dominated countries can no longer be allowed to spread their hate against Christians and minorities.

'They must alter the laws that govern their countries to allow for individual freedoms and rights, such as the right to worship, free speech, and to move freely without fear of being attacked or killed.'

They were protesting at last week's ceremonial burning of a copy of the Koran at a church in Florida.

The controversial pastor triggered international outrage last year when he urged Americans to burn the Koran on the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

He relented following an intervention by President Obama but on March 21 he and pastor Wayne Sapp finally carried out their threat.

After Sapp set fire to the text, he let it burn for ten minutes.

Mohammad Azim, a businessman in Mazer-i-Sharif, said that before the violence, clerics with loudspeakers had driven around the city in two cars to invite residents to the protest.

As the violent mobs dissipated this evening, reports of the UN dead began to trickle in.

The Norwegian Defence Ministry said one of the victims was Lt. Col Siri Skare, a 53-year-old female pilot.

A Swede and four U.N, guards from Nepal were also killed. The nationality of the seventh victim has not been released.

According to Afghan officials it looks increasingly likely that the attacks were carried out by insurgents who had blended into the angry crowds.

This evening Afghan police said they had arrested the suspected mastermind behind the attack.

Rawof Taj, deputy police chief in Balkh province, said this evening he was one of more than 20 people arrested after the violence.

Taj said the suspected mastermind was from Kapisa province, a hotbed of the insurgency about 250 miles south east of Mazar-i-Sharif.

Staffan De Mistura, the top UN representative in Afghanistan, was heading to Mazar-i-Sharif to handle the matter personally.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told reporters in Nairobi that the attack was 'outrageous and cowardly'.

The worst previous attack was in 2009 in an insurgent assault on a guesthouse where UN staff were staying. Five UN staffers were killed and nine others wounded.

In October 2010, several militants were killed when they attempted to ambush the UN compound in Herat dressed in burkas worn by women.

General Daud Daud, commander of Afghan National Police in several northern provinces, said those killed included five Nepalese guards who were working for the UN and two other foreigners employed at the complex.

A UN spokesman confirmed that workers had been killed at the mission, but he said the situation on the ground was still confusing and it was difficult to 'ascertain facts'.

The deaths are a major setback for the U.N. and international forces who want the Afghan government to take control of its own security by 2014.

Only last week President Hamid Karzai said the city of Mazar-i-Sharif would be one of the first areas handed over to Afghan control this year.

Simmering anger at the burnings finally erupted across the Middle East today.

Thousands of demonstrators marched through the western Afghan city of Herat.

There, protesters burned a U.S. flag at a sports stadium and chanted 'Death to the US' and 'They broke the heart of Islam'.

Around 200 also protested near the U.S. embassy in Kabul. Both protests remained relatively peaceful.

Demonstrations against the Koran burning also took place in Pakistan today.

Women representing the Working Women Welfare Trust marched through the streets of Karachi voicing their anger against Pastor Jones.

Last week, Afghan President Hamid Karzai issued a statement calling the burning a 'crime against a religion'.

He denounced it as a 'disrespectful and abhorrent act' and called on the U.S. and the UN to bring to justice those who burned the holy book and issue a response to Muslims around the world.

He also said Mazar-i-Sharif would be one of the first parts

 Fight: It appears guards at the U.N. compound fought back injuring Afghan's who attacked the base

 Hysteria: Preachers rode around after Friday prayers encouraging the population to join protests directed against foreign forces in the country

 Suspects: Afghan officials suspect those who attacked the base were insurgents who had blended into the angry crowd before carrying out the violence

2 UN staff beheaded in north Afghan city

Protests against the burning of the Quran by a US preacher took place throughout the country today.

At least eight foreign UN workers were killed, two of them beheaded, today in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif after a demonstration against the burning of Qurans by a US preacher, a regional police spokesman said.

“Eight foreigners were killed and two were beheaded,” said Lal Mohammad Ahmadzai, a police spokesman for the northern region.

Over a thousand protesters had flooded into the streets of the normally peaceful city after Friday prayers, and after two or three hours violence broke out.

A small group attacked the UN compound, throwing stones and climbing on blast barriers to try and enter.



A police source, who declined to be named as he was not authorised to speak to the media, said protesters had stormed into the compound where they attacked the victims.

The chief of the mission in the city was wounded but survived, and the dead included employees of Norwegian, Romanian and Swedish nationalities, he added.

A United Nations spokesman confirmed that there had been deaths of personnel at the mission in Mazar-i-Sharif but declined to give further details, saying the situation on the ground was still confusing.

Staffan De Mistura, the top UN representative in Afghanistan, was heading to Mazar-i-Sharif to handle the matter personally, he added.

Thousands of demonstrators marched through western Herat city and around 200 in Kabul, but there was no violence at either protest.

American 'Jihad Jane' faces life in jail after admitting terror plot to kill Swedish cartoonist

An American woman who called herself 'Jihad Jane' online pleaded guilty today to her role in a plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist who had offended Muslims.

Colleen LaRose, 47, helped foreign terror suspects intent on starting a holy war in Europe and South Asia, prosecutors said.

LaRose, who also was accused of using the online screen name 'Fatima LaRose,' has been in custody since October 2009 and faced a possible life sentence under charges in a four-count indictment.

Speaking clearly but quietly, LaRose said today she had never been treated for any mental health problems and was entering her plea freely.

 Colleen LaRose known as 'Jihad Jane' was indicted by U.S. authorities March 9, 2010 for planning deadly attacks in Europe and South Asia

 Change: Colleen LaRose is due to reverse her plea to terrorism charges to guilty

She whispered a few comments to her lawyers, some of them prompting a smile from public defender Mark T. Wilson.

In 2009 Colleen LaRose was accused of conspiring with Islamists and pledging to commit murder in the name of a Muslim holy war.

The 47-year-old from Michigan is planning to plead guilty at a special hearing in Philadelphia later today, according to her lawyer, Mark Wilson.

'She is going to plead guilty,' Mr Wilson said on Friday, according to CNN.com.

LaRose was indicted as part of an investigation into an alleged plot to kill Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks, who, in 2007, depicted the Prophet Muhammad as a dog.

She was arrested in October 2009 in Philadelphia while returning to the U.S..

The accused, also known as Fatima LaRose, posted a YouTube video in 2008, saying she was ‘desperate to do something’ to ease the suffering of Muslims, according to authorities.

There were allegedly five other co-conspirators involved, however they have never been named by the government.

In addition, LaRose, who has spend two years in jail since being arrested, has been accused of lying to a federal agent and attempting identity theft.

If she is found guilty of all the charges against her, she faces a sentence of life in prison.

Mr Wilson continued: 'I share the same hope that she does, that she will be out of jail sooner than later.

'She will do time [but] she's been doing remarkably well, considering the circumstances.'

According to a source cited by CNN.com LaRose has been held in a detention centre and has been isolated from other prisoners since October of 2009.

Further, she is only allowed one hour a day outside her cell.

LaRose spent most of her life in Texas, where she dropped out of high school, married at 16 and again at 24.

After a second divorce, she followed a boyfriend, Kurt Gorman, to Pennsylvania in about 2004 and began caring for his father while he worked long hours, sometimes on the road.

In 2005, she swallowed a handful of pills in a failed suicide attempt, telling police she was upset over the death of her father - but did not want to die.

As she moved through her 40s without a job or any outside hobbies, Gorman said, she started spending more time online.

Though he said he did not consider her religious and she apparently never joined a mosque.

LaRose and Gorman shared an apartment with his father in Pennsburg, a quaint if isolated town an hour northwest of Philadelphia.

Just days after the father died in August 2009, she stole Gorman's passport and fled to Europe without telling him.

From June 2008 to August 2009 she allegedly went online to recruit male fighters and women with Western passports to marry them.

She also sought to raise money for the holy war, it is claimed.

E-mails recovered by authorities allegedly show correspondence between LaRose and a man in South Asia whom she planned to marry after he said he could deal bombs and explosives.

He also told her in a March 2009 e-mail to go to Sweden to find the artist, it is claimed.

Dutch may introduce burqa ban as early as 2011

Photo of a woman wearing a niqab/burqa walking near the Eiffel Tower in Paris on June 24, 2009.

The Netherlands could ban the burqa, the full-body covering worn by some Muslim women, as soon as next year, Dutch anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders told Reuters in an interview yesterday.

Wilders’ populist Freedom Party is the third largest in parliament and provides crucial support to the minority ruling coalition in exchange for the government taking a tougher line on Islam and immigration from non-Western countries.

His party has grown in popularity largely because of his outspoken criticism of Islam, which he describes as “a violent ideology.”

“There are not too many people who are willing to fight for this cause. It’s a big responsibility. It’s not only a Dutch problem, it’s a problem of the West,” said Wilders.


He has been charged with inciting hatred against Muslims for comparing Islam to Nazism. The case is due to start over again following a request for new judges.




“We are not a single issue party but the fight against a fascist ideology Islam is for us of the utmost importance,” said Wilders, who argues his comments about Islam are protected by freedom of speech.

Wilders said immigration from Muslim countries “is very dangerous to the Netherlands. We believe our country is based on Christianity, on Judaism, on humanism, and we believe the more Islam we get, the more it will not only threaten our culture and our own identity but also our values and our freedom.”

The burqa ban, which his party agreed as part of a pact with the minority coalition, is due to come into force within four years and possibly as soon as next year or 2012, he said.

With no clear winner in the elections in June, Wilders emerged as a kingmaker and won considerable influence for his Freedom Party over government policy. He promised support for the minority Liberal-Christian Democrat coalition in return for a tougher line on Islam and immigration, especially from non-Western, or predominantly Muslim countries.

The rise of Wilders and his party reflects changes within Dutch society over the past decade, in particular growing concerns that years of an open immigration policy and generous benefits have failed to integrate some immigrants.

Those concerns were previously highlighted by Dutch politicians Pim Fortuyn and Somalia-born Ayaan Hirsi Ali, as well as by the film-maker Theo van Gogh, all of whom spoke out against Islam and attracted death threats.

Fortuyn was murdered by an animal rights activist, Van Gogh was killed by a Muslim extremist, and Wilders lives with round-the-clock security in a government safe house, sometimes using wigs or other disguises when he moves around.

Wilders has used his party’s new-found power to push for cuts in the international aid budget, and strongly opposed the presence of a Dutch contingent in Afghanistan — an issue which brought down the previous government earlier this year and led to the withdrawal of Dutch troops.

Wilders’ influence has also caused consternation in the United States, which according to cables released this week by WikiLeaks had been pushing the Netherlands to take an even more prominent international role.

The US cables described the “golden-pompadoured, maverick parliamentarian” — a reference to Wilders’ dyed-blond mane — as “a thorn in the coalition’s side, capitalising on the social stresses resulting from the failure to fully integrate almost a million Dutch Muslims.”

They also described him as “no friend of the US” because of his opposition to a Dutch military role in Afghanistan.

Wilders laughed off the description of his appearance but stressed he was a friend of the United States who admired many of US values, including freedom of speech.

In contrast, he opposed bailouts for the European Union’s heavily indebted periphery: “The Dutch taxpayer will have to pay for countries that messed up ... If you mess up, you have to be responsible for your own problems.”

Wilders has also taken aim at the monarchy, saying Queen Beatrix should be reduced to a ceremonial role. A single party rarely wins an absolute majority in Dutch general elections and the monarch plays an important role in forming a government.

“We are not against the royal house. We are not republicans, but we believe that in the 21st century it’s not appropriate that just because you have a certain bloodline you have a part in government,” said Wilders.

The Freedom Party leader criticised Queen Beatrix after she called for tolerance in her annual Christmas Day speech — a comment Wilders felt was directed at him and his par

Radical Islamists aim to infiltrate Hamburg mosques

Radical Islamists from a shut down Hamburg mosque linked to the September 11 attacks on the United States are now trying to infiltrate other mosques in and around the German city, according to officials and Muslim leaders.

Small groups of radicals have turned up at several mosques trying to establish a new meeting place since the Taiba Mosque, where the 9/11 leader Mohammad Atta once prayed, was raided and closed by police in August, they told Reuters.

With radicals no longer grouped around one mosque near the city’s main train station, security services have stepped up their observation of Islamists around the city and Muslim associations are on the lookout for suspicious newcomers.

“There are small groups of three to five people from the former Taiba Mosque who have gone to other mosques,” said Ralf Kunz, internal affairs spokesman for the city government.

Individual radicals have turned up “at lots of mosques, both in Hamburg and the surrounding region,” he said. “They have not been able to assemble at any mosque.”

People walk past the entrance of the Taiba Mosque in Hamburg October 6, 2010.






Hamburg police shut down the Taiba Mosque, formerly known as the Al Quds Mosque, in August, saying it had links with armed Islamist groups in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

A so-called “Hamburg Travel Group” of 11 radicals linked to the mosque left Germany in March 2009 to fight against the US and coalition forces in Afghanistan.

Muslim organisations in the city said they had stepped up their vigilance. Schura, Hamburg’s largest Muslim group, said it had no evidence of any problem at its mosques.

But Schura head Mustafa Yoldas, referring to an ultra-conservative brand of Islam, added: “The salafis are trying to get a foothold in some other congregations. I know of two mosques where they meet and give lectures... They are and will remain a fringe group, they will never be mainstream here.”

At Ditib, a German-Turkish association linked to Ankara’s Religious Affairs Ministry, regional chairman Zekeriya Altug said his group’s structure made it harder to infiltrate.

“I know that the (Taiba Mosque) congregation has been split up and is seeking refuge elsewhere,” he said. “Our imams are university graduates who are competent to counter them.”

Radicals trying to infiltrate a congregation usually seek out small mosques with weak leadership and start meeting and preaching there, hoping to attract young Muslims.

Norbert Mueller, a German convert on Schura’s board, said weakly managed mosques did not always notice what was happening.

“These young people don’t come wearing a label saying ‘I’m from the Taiba Mosque’,” he said. “They say they want to start a youth group. But their thinking becomes obvious after a while and one realises where they come from.”

Recent reports of planned al Qaeda attacks on landmark targets in Europe have turned the spotlight back on Hamburg, a major port city where 27 per cent of the population is foreign or has an immigrant background.

One member of the “travel group” was seized by US troops in Afghanistan this summer and has revealed details of the planned attacks, intelligence sources say. That prompted the US, Britain and France to issue travel warnings in Europe.

Kunz said the “travel group” consisted of nine men and two women, who he said had little to do with the men’s radical activities. Three were now back in Hamburg under police observation, one was jailed here and one in US custody.

Some others were apparently killed in a US drone attack, but their identities have not yet been confirmed, Kunz said.

“The travel group has been broken up,” he said.

Kunz gave no details of new security measures against mosque infiltration but said: “It has created a lot more work for us.”

He said Hamburg authorities had expected Islamists to fan out to other mosques if they closed the Taiba Mosque, but shut it down anyway because it had become a magnet for radicals.

“The Taiba Mosque had a cult status,” he said. “People came from all over Germany and from abroad to pray there. We wanted to stop that.”

Mosques to become bigger part of German life-Merkel

Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germans had for too long failed to grasp how immigration was changing their country and would have to get used to the sight of more mosques in their cities, according to a newspaper.

Germany, home to at least 4 million Muslims, has been divided in recent weeks by a debate over integration sparked by disparaging remarks about Muslim immigrants by an outspoken member of the country’s central bank.

Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel addresses a news conference




“Our country is going to carry on changing, and integration is also a task for the society taking up the immigrants,” Merkel told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung daily.

“For years we’ve been deceiving ourselves about this. Mosques, for example, are going to be a more prominent part of our cities than they were before,” she added.

The uproar sparked by the Bundesbank’s Thilo Sarrazin, who argued Turkish and Arab immigrants were failing to integrate and swamping Germany with a higher birth rate, is one of several recent prominent disputes touching on religion and integration.

Switzerland sparked international condemnation last year when it voted to impose a ban on building minarets.

Religious disputes have erupted in the United States during the past few weeks over plans to build an Islamic cultural centre close to the site of toppled World Trade Center.

Meanwhile ties between Berlin and Paris were strained this week by a terse exchange between Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy over France’s expulsion of Roma migrants.

Protester who burned pages of Koran at Ground Zero mosque site is sacked from his job

A protester who burned pages of the Koran outside the site of the planned mosque near Ground Zero has been sacked from his job as a train conductor.

Derek Fenton, 39, of Bloomingdale, New Jersey, was photographed ripping up pages from the Muslim holy book and setting them alight on September 11.

He was removed from outside Park51, the site where the controversial mosque could be built, by police but was later released without charge.

But it now appears his former employer NJ Transit has taken more drastic action after confirming he had been dismissed.

A statement from the company said: 'Mr Fenton's public actions violated New Jersey Transit's code of ethics.

Defiant: Derek Fenton was moved away by police after burning pages of the Koran near the planned mosque site in New York



'NJ Transit concluded that Mr Fenton violated his trust as a state employee and there he was dismissed.'

Mr Fenton was allegedly inspired to carry out the act by Reverend Terry Jones, the Florida clergyman who sparked international protests when he threatened to stage a Koran burning day on the ninth anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

A police source told the New York Daily News: 'He said "this is America" and he wanted to stand up for it, in a Tea Party kind of way.'

Another police source said he described himself as exercising his 'right to protest'.

Mr Fenton was an assistant train-consist coordinator - which entails ensuring there are enough train cars positioned to be put into service.

New Jersey Transit did not give specifics behind why he was dismissed.

But if he was sacked because of his actions, he could be protected by his First Amendment rights, according to the New York Civil Liberties Union.

Chris Dunn, from the union, said: 'The Supreme Court has recognised a constitutional right to burn the flag.

'As reprehensible as it may be, burning the Koran would be protected as well.'