Do More With Reuters
Partner Services

Taliban says killed Dutch soldiers over film

Mon Apr 21, 2008 9:22am IST
 
Email | Print | | Single Page
[-] Text [+]

LONDON (Reuters) - The Taliban said a deadly attack on Dutch soldiers in Afghanistan was in retaliation for an anti-Islamic film made by a politician from the Netherlands, a U.S. terrorism monitoring service said on Sunday.

The son of the new chief of the Dutch military and another Dutch soldier serving with NATO-led forces were killed when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Afghanistan on Friday.

The attack was one of "a sequence of missions taking revenge for the insulting film", the Taliban said in a message in Arabic on its website, according to the terrorism monitoring service of a U.S. author and analyst who goes by the pseudonym Laura Mansfield.

Dutch MP Geert Wilders, leader of the anti-immigration Freedom Party, launched the anti-Koran film "Fitna" -- an Arabic term that can mean strife -- on the Internet last month.

The film urges Muslims to tear out "hate filled" verses from the Koran, and includes a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammad with a bomb under his turban.

Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende has repeatedly said that the government rejects Wilders' views.

Dubai skyline
India won't be affected much

Dubai's debt crisis will not affect India much but the govt is keeping a close watch, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said.  Full Article | Full Coverage 

Hoardings alongside Nakheel's Waterfront construction site at Jebel Ali in Dubai November 26, 2009.  REUTERS/Steve Crisp
Dubai Debt Fears

Investors recoiled from risky assets and dumped shares in Asian banks and builders, fearing a debt default could reignite the financial turmoil.  Full Article 

Photo
A man walks with the Indian national flag in front of the Taj Mahal hotel, one of the sites of last year's militant attacks, in Mumbai November 26, 2009.  REUTERS/Punit Paranjpe
One Year Later

Mumbai held tearful memorials as it marked the first anniversary of militant raids that killed 166 people.   Full Article | Full Coverage