More cartoon deaths. “Four killed as crowd attacks Norwegian base,” from Reuters, with thanks to JE:
Afghan police opened fire on a mob trying to storm a NATO peacekeeping base housing Norwegian troops on Tuesday, killing four people as protests over cartoons depicting Islam’s Prophet Mohammed flared again.
British troops were sent to the north-western town of Maymana to secure the airfield after crowds attacked a NATO base with guns and grenades.
“Police had to open fire. Some people are aiming to disrupt and disturb security,” said Azim Hakimi, spokesman for the provincial security department.
“Some people used guns,” he said. As well as the four dead, 18 people were wounded, he said.
At least nine people have been killed in protests linked to the controversy over the cartoons – in Somalia, Lebanon and seven in Afghanistan.
In Maymana, crowds of young men threw stones, grenades and petrol bombs at the camp manned by Norwegian troops. Five Norwegians were slightly hurt, Norway said.
A Dutch peacekeeper was hurt by a stone during a protest in Baghlan, also in the north, the provincial governor said.
The heavily outnumbered Norwegians fired teargas, rubber bullets and warning shots while NATO F-16 jets flew over Maymana in a show of force.