Nepalese Hostages killed, Nepal withdraws workers from Iraq

[Jeanette X]

source: http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news...YNk&refer=asia

Nepal Will Evacuate Workers From Iraq After Hostages Killed

Sept. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Nepal's government said it will evacuate its citizens working in Iraq after an Iraqi group said it executed 12 Nepalese hostages.

The government is arranging a plane to bring Nepalese back from the country, said Raghuji Pant, Nepal's minister for Labor and Transport, according to the government's Web site. He didn't say how many Nepalese are working in Iraq.

An estimated 17,000 Nepalese may be in the country, many working as armed guards for international companies, the Associated Press reported yesterday. Nepal has banned its citizens from working in the country for security reasons, the government said on its Web site.

Nepal's capital, Kathmandu, was placed under curfew yesterday after demonstrators protesting the killing of the hostages set fire to a mosque and other buildings. Nepal's Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba issued an appeal for calm on state radio and television, according to the government's Web site.

``Terrorists don't have any religion or caste,'' Deuba said yesterday. He called on Nepalese not to target any particular community and to avoid ``provocative activities,'' the statement on the Web site said.

Deuba said the government will take action against employment agencies sending Nepalese citizens illegally to Iraq to find work. Iraq's interim government last week detained 14 Nepalese entering the country illegally, the government said.

Pant appealed to thousands of Nepalese stranded in India on their way to Iraq to return home, it said.

Army Deployed

The army was deployed on Kathmandu's streets after the curfew was declared. Protests took place in several other towns in the country, the government said. Nepal is today holding a day of national mourning.

A group calling itself the Army of Ansar al-Sunna said in a statement on its Web site on Tuesday the 12 Nepalese were killed because they ``came from their country to help fight against the Muslims and served the Jews and the Christians.''

The Nepalese, who were reported kidnapped on Aug. 20, were employed by a Jordan-based services company called Morning Star, Agence France-Presse reported earlier this week.

Nepal doesn't have any soldiers serving with the U.S.-led international force in Iraq.

[Zhukov]

The army was deployed on Kathmandu's streets after the curfew was declared.

The Royal Nepalese Army has been deployed in Kathmandu for, like, the past 30 years or something. The Maoists are blockading it at this very moment. I am pretty sure.