Manmohan, Natwar Express Grief On Nepalese Killings


New Delhi, Sept. 2 (NNN): Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has expressed grief over the killing of 12 nationals of that country by their abductors in Iraq.

The Prime Minister spoke over phone to his Nepalese counterpart Sher Bahadur Deuba on Wednesday night and said: "We are with you at this moment of grief.

Singh has offered to extend all possible cooperation to that country in this hour of grief, the sources said.

Earlier External Affairs Minister Kanwar Natwar Singh had spoken to Deuba expressing deep shock and anguish over the killings.

Natwar had offered to provide any assistance that may be required by Nepal to bring back the bodies of the victims.

An indefinite curfew was slapped in Nepalese capital Kathmandu Wednesday after thousands of angry protesters attacked city's Jama masjid in the wake of the killing of 12 Nepali hostages in Iraq on Tuesday.

The mobs in Kathmandu also attacked government offices and the offices of two Middle East airlines.

Riot police used batons and teargas to push back an angry mob which attacked the Jama mosque in central Kathmandu.

"We want revenge," demonstrators shouted as they stormed the mosque which was empty at the time.

"Demonstrators entered the mosque, threw stones and partially damaged it," the Reuters news agency quoted police official Binod Singh as saying.

Thousands of angry demonstrators took the streets of Kathmandu on Wednesday with the security forces struggling to control the situation.

Protesters stoned the labour department building in Kathmandu, shattering windows and damaging equipment.

They also targetted agencies which recruited Nepali workers for the Middle East as well as two Arab airline offices.

Nepalese Muslim groups have condemned the killings saying the "inhuman act is against Islam".

The government is being heavily criticised for doing little to free the hostages and there have been calls for the prime minister to step down.

The English language Kathmandu Post newspaper said the militants who had killed the hostages were simply "terrorists who have camouflaged themselves in the masks of Islam". It said the government had failed to take concrete steps to secure the hostages' release.

The government denies the criticism and has condemned the incident as a "barbarian act of terrorism", and pressed the international community to hunt down the killers.

The families of the 12 victims are grief-stricken and in shock.

"The government did not do enough to get their release," Sudharshan Khadka, brother of one of the victims Ramesh Khadka, said.

The government said it would take action against agencies illegally sending people to Iraq.

Nepal, one of the poorest countries in the world, has banned Nepalis from going to Iraq, despite the relatively well-paid jobs there.

Anger and protest in Nepal followed after images were shown on a website, apparently showing one man being beheaded and 11 being shot dead.

The news was received with anger and grief in Nepal with one official describing it as "one of the worst days" in his country's history.

The militants said the 12 Nepalis had been killed because they "came from their country to fight the Muslims and to serve the Jews and the Christians".