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Angry over Iraq killings, crowds attack mosque in Nepal

KATMANDU, Nepal -- Crowds stormed the main mosque in Katmandu and charged through the streets chanting "Down with Islam" in protest yesterday against the killing of 12 Nepalis in Iraq.

Protesters attacked the mosque, set furniture and carpets on fire, and tore up a copy of the Koran before police drove them out. Calm gradually returned after most of the capital's streets emptied in response to an indefinite curfew, which took effect on the capital at 2 p.m.

Police fired on a group who gathered in downtown Katmandu despite the ban, killing one man, an official said. Another man was killed and three wounded when police fired to break a mob trying to storm the capital's Egyptian Embassy before the curfew was imposed, the interior ministry said.

King Gyanendra urged people of different faiths to stay calm in the Hindu nation already torn by a Maoist revolt.

"We must ensure this tragic incident does not weaken the age-old fraternal ties, unity and mutual tolerance that exists among the Nepalese people," the royal palace said in a statement.

A militant Iraqi group said Tuesday it had killed the 12 Nepali hostages, who went to Iraq to work as cooks and cleaners for a Jordanian firm. It showed pictures of one being beheaded and the others with bullet wounds to the head and back.

Earlier, crowds of people burst into the offices of Saudi Arabian Airlines and Qatar Airways, smashing windows and taking papers and furniture onto the street to burn.

Police lobbed teargas shells and fired water cannons at about 3,000 demonstrators burning tires at a main intersection near the Jama Masjid mosque in the heart of the city.

For much of the day, a pall of smoke hung over the kingdom's capital after tires were set on fire on most major street corners. Crowds fed the flames with firewood.

Protesters shouted "Down with Islam" and "Long live the memories of the 12 Nepalis." They called for the government to resign for doing too little to protect the victims.

There is no history of significant anti-Muslim protests or riots in Nepal, which is overwhelmingly Hindu but has a small Muslim minority. But there have been widespread and sustained antigovernment protests this year.

About 3.5 percent of Nepal's 27 million people are Muslim.

Riot police cordoned off the mosque, which the smoke obscured from view.

"Demonstrators entered the mosque, threw stones, and partially damaged it," police official Binod Singh said. "They tried to set the building on fire but police intervened and prevented them."

Offices of companies that recruit Nepalis to work abroad were also attacked and their contents burned on the streets. A media company that runs a television station and publishes newspapers was also attacked.

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba declared today national day of mourning "to show unity against terrorism." He promised victims' families would be given 1 million rupees, about $14,000.

Protests also erupted in other parts of the Himalayan state.

"This inhuman act is against Islam," a Nepali Islamic group said in a statement on the killing of the 12, the largest number of foreign captives killed at one time by militants in Iraq. 

© Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company