AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE UNITED NATIONS: Four Nepalese guards fought desperately against an armed mob that stormed a UN compound in Afghanistan, but were overwhelmed and died with three workers they were protecting, officials said. United Nations leaders and governments paid tribute to the seven staff killed in what UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called an "outrageous and cowardly attack" in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif. The UN Security Council called on the Afghan government to increase protection for UN workers and bring those responsible to justice. The attackers broke away from a big demonstration in the city against the burning of a Koran, Islam's holy book, by a US pastor. "Some of them were clearly armed and they stormed into the building" and set it on fire, UN peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy told reporters after briefing the Security Council on Friday. "The security guards, who were the Gurkhas, tried their best but the number was so high that they were not able to prevent it." He denied reports that two of the dead were beheaded but said one victim had his throat cut. UN officials said the Gurkhas, security mainstays in many world trouble spots, were believed to have killed a number of assailants before they were overcome. An Afghan provincial governor said at least five Afghans were killed in the compound. An unknown number of UN staff were also wounded and they have been evacuated, Le Roy said. The Mazar-i-Sharif base would remain open though, he insisted, adding that he did not believe the United Nations had been a specific target of the attack. Ban's chief of staff, Vijay Nambiar, and a top peacekeeping official had left for Afghanistan to conduct a review of security in UN facilities, Le Roy said. The attack was the worst suffered by the world body since a bomb blast at the UN compound in Algiers in 2007 that left 17 staff dead. "Afghanistan has become one of the most dangerous places for UN personnel," the UN staff union said. It listed nine other deaths of UN workers in the country in less than two years, including in targeted attacks, suicide bombings and drive-by shootings. "This was an outrageous and cowardly attack against UN staff, which cannot be justified under any circumstances," Ban said on a visit to Nairobi. The United Nations did not announce the nationalities of the three civilian staff killed. But Sweden named one as 33-year-old Swede, Joakim Dungel. Norway said Lieutenant Colonel Siri Skare, a 53-year-old female pilot, was killed. Diplomats said the third was a Romanian. The 15-nation UN Security Council held a special meeting on the incident and condemned the attack "in the strongest terms". It called "on the government of Afghanistan to bring those responsible to justice and take all possible steps, with the assistance of ISAF as appropriate, to protect UN personnel and premises." The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force has about 140,000 troops in the conflict-stricken nation. "The dedicated staff of the UN Mission in Afghanistan does courageous work every single day to support the Afghan people under extremely difficult circumstances, including repeated attacks," said US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice. Protests against the burning of the Koran in the United States were also held in Kabul, where demonstrators shouted slogans against the United States, Israel and Britain. http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=Gurkhas+fought+to+save+UN+staff+from+Afghan+protest+mob&NewsID=282307 i dont think they were from the brigade of gurkhas, they probably are ex gurkhas hired again by private security firms. technically gurkhas are deployed in afghan under british gov through ISAF in chain of command from NATO. neverthless, it has come as a very sad news to all of us, thats a big loss. but they didnt die in vain, they showed the outmost discipline, valour n professionalism in thier line of duty till the end, a true gurkha indeed. RIP...i hope UN has learned thier lesson n will review n upgrade thier defensive system; how can one defend such determined rebels with an old AK-47...

contrast between a regular soldier from the brigade of gurkhas n private security; the role of duty is also very different between two, later performs mostly a guard duty whereas former conducts more riskier missions n  r mostly deployed in frontline.

guard from private security firm.

nepali heads rolling for foreign [Disallowed String for - bad word]ing intrests .be it the indians,british or the un.
and some nepalis are  proud they kill people for someone others vested interests .so sad..

इंडिया मा चौकीदारी गर्दा डाकुको गोलि खानु, अफगानिस्थानमा खैरेको सुरक्ष्या गर्दा मुसल्टे को बम खानु, अमेरिका को स्टोर मा काम गर्दा काले को गोलि खानु, UK को अनावस्यक मुसलमान लडाई मा गोलि लग्नु हाम्रो गर्ब को कुरा होइन कि यो हाम्रो मजबुरी हो,

हामी नेपालीलाइ कहिले गर्ब र मजबुरी को अर्थ थाहा हुने को कुन्नि??

majboori ma haresh na khanu lai bahadur vanchan. kale le banuk tersauda, musalte le bomb pardkauda bir gurkha le haresh na khayeko kura ma po hami nepali le garva gareka hau.
marna na kaslai pardaina ra.

Bahaduri ma ta garba cha tara gharma alikati ramro khane basne bebastha bhaye dekhi arko ko ladai ma bahaduri dekhauna pardaina thiyo ki bhanne bhanai matra ho.

Testo Bahaduri ta Nepal ma nai khacho cha ni. Majburile arka ko cause ko lagi ladna parya cha Nepali le.

pahilo choti yo sidster ko kura man paryo malai.

kuro ta sahi ho. nahanu mama vanda kano mama nai jati vanchan ni. aaba itihas herne ho vane aafno lagi ta hamle ekai patak belaiti sanga ladyeu ni tara bir gorkhali vanne nam ta aru kai lagi ladera aahile samman jiwanta rakeka hau ni.

des pani bancha

Sidster stole those lines from someones comment on mysansar.
:)

I posted that in mysansar too. it was easier to type Nepali in mysansar.

Well nothing said can ever convince ur psyche brother, its already rigid n entrenched in the denial mode. I would rather kill other douche bags than my fellow countrymen.  Condolences have cum from likes of secretary of state Hillary Clinton n president obama. They were just a guard hired by private security firm not even UN members. Its earned in blood in the span of 200 years of bloody conflicts globally. When it cums to derogating n using low words its either Indian or our fellow brothers. Even a chowkidar in india is profession which they perform sincerely to keep up their family in Nepal who r actually poor guys from the rural areas, is it sumthing to b ashamed of?? technically gurkhas n chowkidar r very different terms except for again indians n sum of our own brothers. Isn’t it a hypocrisy when many of u work in foreign soil n generate tax for them n those taxes r funding the war effort for others. Hard reality of life cums from hard experiences, only hanging an academically qualified certificate on the wall  n working ass off for sum corporation is not enough, these rifle wielding men made the dharan a beautiful city it is today, developed the concept of volunteering, contributing n participating for the local development n hav built other model communities nationally.

but would you kill a person just coz your lord has said to do??would u prefer to be referred as a crazy killer who would just chop anyone for a living? chowkidari is a lot better job. to give and save lifes is 1000 times better than taking one.

if thats ur understanding of the contemporary military profession n career, got nothing to say brother. i cant fight n change ur prejudices n beliefs either. but accept it or not, the reputaion of feared warrior and respect has been earned by these gentlemen globally, they march from ANZAC parad in australian soil to the frozen ice of falklands to the jungle of belize n further.

Sirupate,

Let me ask you this without trying to offend all the Nepali Fighters fighting for foreign forces.

Lets say that the instead of Britishers it was the Nazi Germany who had concquered the world and they were really impressed with the loyalty and fighting willingness of Hill people of Nepal and were hiring Nepali fighters to keep Nazi order in the world. Would there still be bravery or pride in fighting?

Keep in mind in this imaginary Nazi world, Nazi principles would be marketed as the ultimate principle of the world as British Principle is today. Would we ( the fighters) still be intelligent enough to rationalize the CAUSE before joining the Nazi force or we would join anyways because its not the principle that will make us join the Nazi force bit it would be the need of our survival and the betterment of our offspring???

Another thought, If Nepal government opens recruitment of Nepali fighters for Iran...and Iran starts hiring, and IF the pay is better than what Britishers pay, You think the hill people are rational enough to say that they do not like the Iranian Cause and would not join forces????

So what is it?? Is there really a pride in this bravery or are we using PRIDE to cover the humiliation we have of being a mercenaries. Gaddafi also has bunch of mercenaries fighting for him. Are those also brave fighters?? Or are we brave because we side with the winners???? The only difference i see between Gaddafi mercenaries and us is that we are fighting for the winners.

Again, my post is not to offend any foreign fighters, in my opinion foreigh fighters are similar to foreign workers, there is no pride in becoming someone else's coolie. We belong to one shitty country, we cannot trade among ourselves and we have to sell our skills to foreigners who want to buy our skills. We are all selling our skills in the form of labor, knowledge, skills, bravery,  and trade.

I hope you know that you can not compare Working for NAZI with Working for UN.