![]() Karzai in shake-up over riots 16may05 AFGHAN President Hamid Karzai has blamed opponents of his plans for long-term ties with the US for four days of riots in his country that have left at least 14 people dead and 120 wounded. He promised a shake-up of his administration in the wake of Afghanistan's worst unrest since the fall of the Taliban more than three years ago, with anti-US protests across the country. "The question comes up – the demonstrations began in Jalalabad and were peaceful but why later was it dragged into violence?" Mr Karzai said on the weekend, after returning from a European trip. He said the anti-US unrest, prompted by reports of desecration of the Koran at the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay, was used by "enemies of peace" to undermine parliamentary elections and plans to reconcile with the remnants of the Taliban. "I tell you, these demonstrations and noises were not over Koran abuse at Guantanamo – it was against the solidarity of the world with Afghanistan. It was against our program that we've made for bringing in the Taliban, who are the sons of this soil," Mr Karzai said. According to Newsweek magazine, US interrogators at the Guantanamo prison camp in Cuba tried to rattle Muslim prisoners by defiling the Muslim holy book, leaving copies in the toilets and stuffing one down a lavatory . Officials said Mr Karzai was likely to replace the governor and police chief of eastern Nangarhar province where the bloody rioting started on Wednesday. Police opened fire on protesters who torched the buildings of several aid agencies, the Pakistani consulate and the governor's house in Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar. Four people were killed and 70 wounded in the clashes, which spread to other Afghan cities in the following days. "Both the governor, Din Mohammad, and police chief Hazrat Ali will be replaced in Nangarhar," an Interior Ministry official said. Mr Ali, a former anti-Taliban commander, is a powerful warlord, while Mr Mohammad took office after the killing of his brother, Haji Mohammad Qadeer, about two years ago. Diplomatic sources in the capital Kabul said the International Security Assistance Force and US-led coalition troops were standing by for a possible evacuation should the situation worsen. A senior police official in Kabul, Abdul Hakim, said the police and law-enforcement agencies were on high alert. Seven Afghans died on Friday in clashes with security forces in several towns and cities at both ends of the war-ravaged country, posing new problems for Mr Karzai's US-backed efforts to restore order and rebuild the country. Afghan troops shot dead three people as demonstrators tried to storm the governor's house in southern Ghazni province on Friday. There was a security clampdown in the northeastern Badakhshan province, where three people were killed in clashes with troops on Friday. The same day, the army opened fire on about 300 protesters in the southeastern city of Gardez, killing one person was killed and wounding three others. As news of the alleged Koran desecration spread, public anger at Washington swept the Muslim world, with anti-US demonstrators taking to the streets in the Gaza Strip, Pakistan, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia. AFP, AP
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