Bitter and violent protests erupted in Muslim nations yesterday over the U.S.-British military strikes, with at least four people being shot dead and hundreds injured.
In Pakistan, thousands of anti-American demonstrators waved photos of Osama bin Laden, screaming “Death to America!” and “Bush is a terrorist!”
They set cars on fire, hurled stones and torched the office of the United Nations’ UNICEF charity, movie theaters, shops, a bank and the Pakistan Central Investigations Agency building.
Cops in riot gear opened fire on the mob, killing one man and wounding seven others in the city of Quetta.
“It was pretty scary because we had staff in there. Fortunately, nobody was hurt,” U.N. spokesman Rupert Colville said.
Up the Khyber Pass in Landi Kotal, near the Afghan border, local militia opened fire to control about 5,000 Pashtun tribesmen burning an effigy of President Bush.
The crowd chanted “Long Live the Taliban” and threw stones in return.
In the Palestinian-ruled Gaza City, PLO police shot dead three protesters – two 13-year-olds and a man, 21 – at a noisy rally supporting Osama bin Laden.
Demonstrators in Indian-ruled Kashmir angrily protested the U.S.-led strikes.
“The attack on New York and Washington was an act of terrorism. Similarly, the attack on Afghanistan is also an act of terrorism,” separatist religious leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani said.
Hundreds of students massed at the University of Kashmir shouting: “Down with America. The superpower is Allah. Afghan warriors – we are with you.”
In New Delhi, the head of India’s biggest mosque said he would call on the country’s 120 million Muslims to provide moral support for a jihad, or holy war, against the United States.
In Egypt, security sources said 20,000 students protested at universities across the country, some calling the attacks a “war against Islam.”
“U.S. go to hell, Afghanis will prevail,” students shouted at Alexandria University.
“Bush, Bush, you mean man, the blood of Muslims is not cheap,” chanted others.
In the conservative Persian Gulf state of Oman, university students marched in the capital city of Muscat protesting the strikes.
Sudan condemned “this war on Afghan land,” and its students took to the streets in Khartoum, shouting, “Long live bin Laden!” and “Down with America!”
Hundreds protested outside the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta amid new threats against Westerners living in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation.
In rallies in Dhaka, Bangladesh, people shouted anti-America slogans and burned effigies of President Bush.