Afghan mob storms UN complex,kills 7 foreign workers

5 Afghans also killed in attack over burning of Koran by Florida pastor Terry Jones

Thousands of demonstrators angered over the burning of a Koran in Florida mobbed offices of the United Nations in northern Afghanistan on Friday,overrunning the compound and killing at least seven foreign staff workers,according to an Afghan officials.

There were conflicting reports of the total number of people killed and whether two of the victims had been beheaded. Five Afghans were also reported killed. The incident began when thousands of protesters poured out of the Blue Mosque in Mazar-i-Sharif after Friday prayers and attacked the nearby headquarters of the United Nations,according to Lal Mohammad Ahmadzai,spokesman for Gen Daoud Daoud,the Afghan National Police commander for northern Afghanistan.

After disarming or shooting the UN compounds guards,the crowd surged inside. Ahmadzai said that eight of the foreign staff workers were killed by gunfire,and that two others were captured by the mob and beheaded.

The governor of Balkh Province,Atta Mohammad Noor,said that seven United Nations employees were killed in all,five Nepali security guards and two European international staff,one of them a woman. He said earlier reports of beheadings were unfounded. The crowd,which he estimated at 20,000,overwhelmed police forces and the UN security guards,he said.

Afghan insurgents used mass protests against Koran burning as cover to launch an attack on the United Nations building in northern Mazar-i-Sharif city,the governor of Northern Balkh province said. The insurgents have taken advantage of the situation to attack the United Nations compound, said Governor Ata Mohammad Noor at a news conference after the assault.

Mirwais Rabi,director of the public health hospital in Mazar-i-Sharif,said 20 wounded Afghan civilians and five dead Afghan civilians were brought to the hospital in all.

Ahmadzai,the police spokesman,said the demonstrators were angry about the burning of the Koran at the church of Pastor Terry Jones on March 20 this year. Jones had caused an international uproar by threatening to burn the Koran last year on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks. Jones subsequently had promised not to burn a Koran,but then presided over a mock trial and the burning of the Koran at his small fringe church in Gainesville,Florida.

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After news of the attack,Jones,released a statement expressing no regret for the Koran burning. He called the attack on the compound a very tragic and criminal action and called on the US and the UN to take action. The time has come to hold Islam accountable, he said.

In another development,six US soldiers have been killed in a operation in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday and Thursday,a spokesman for the international coalition said Friday.ROD NORDLAND