The United Nations and several non-governmental aid agencies withdrew staff from the troubled Afghan city of Herat on Monday after their offices were targeted in deadly rioting. More than 60 workers were relocated after demonstrators attacked aid offices on Sunday in protest at the sacking of long-time governor Ismael Khan. Four people died and more than 50 were injured.
"All international and some national United Nations staff are being relocated to Kabul," said one UN official who did not want to be named.
"They are obviously relocated for security reasons."
He said 33 members of about 10 non-governmental organisations were also evacuated, with 61 workers pulled out in total. The UN refugee agency has also suspended repatriations from nearby Iran.
United Nations staff fled to bunkers as about 500 demonstrators ransacked buildings used by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan and three non-governmental groups on Sunday.
Gunfire rang out throughout the day and American and Afghan forces were on the streets, with US military helicopters flying low over the city. Hospital sources said the four deaths and 53 injuries were mainly caused by gunshots and shrapnel.
Calm returned on Monday after a televised appeal by Khan and a government warning that any more violence would be met by military force - allowing the aid workers to survey the devastation.
"Oh my God, what have they done to our office?" said Abdul Karim, an employee of the non-governmental International Organisation for Migration whose premises were reduced to a smouldering ruin.
Filippo Grande, a spokesman for the UN's special representative in Afghanistan, said the damage caused by the demonstrators was "shocking".
"I've seen in my life many destroyed UN premises but I have hardly seen the type of destruction that I saw at the UNAMA offices. The office is in ashes, everything is burned - they spilt gasoline and threw matches and the whole office does not exist anymore."
The European Union Special Representative for Afghanistan in a statement expressed dismay at the violent demonstrations and "wanton destruction" of property.
The EU urged religious, tribal and community leaders to use their influence "to quell acts of violence and ensure the safety of the citizens of Herat and all international personnel working in the region".
Khan governed Herat city and province with an iron fist from 1992 apart from a five-year hiatus during the Taleban era. He has refused to take up a central government post offered by President Hamid Karzai.
His dismissal marks Karzai's latest effort, just weeks before presidential elections, to rein in the powerful warlords who control much of Afghanistan outside the capital Kabul.
Khan, the self-styled "Emir of Herat", had been accused of refusing to hand over lucrative duties earned on goods flowing across the border with Iran. "The city is back to normal and shops are open, people have gone back to work and I hope the new governor does more than Ismael Khan for us," said pharmacist Abdul Satar.
Herat province also saw deadly clashes last month between militias faithful to warlord Amanullah Khan and troops belonging to the governor.
Afghanistan has been hit by a wave of attacks in the lead-up to presidential polls set for October 9.
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