Afghan police have killed at least three people after opening fire to disperse thousands of protesters in several cities on a second day of demonstrations against the burning of Muslim holy books at a NATO military base, authorities said.
The anger over the Koran burning has tapped into anti-foreign sentiment in Afghanistan fuelled by a popular perception that foreign troops disrespect Afghan culture and Islam. The violent protests in the capital, as well as two eastern provinces, prompted the US to lock down its embassy and bar staff from travelling.
In Kabul, thousands of protesters chanting "Death to America" hurled rocks and set fire to tyres outside a complex, which is home to foreign contractors, police and some coalition military forces. Nearby, angry demonstrators set a fuel truck ablaze on a main highway running east out of the city, sending black smoke billowing into the air.
The US apologised on Tuesday for burning the copies of the Koran, which had been pulled from the shelves of the Parwan Detention Facility, adjoining Bagram Air Field, because they contained extremist messages or inscriptions.
US General John Allen, the top commander of American and NATO forces in Afghanistan, said after incident that the books had been mistakenly given to troops to be burned at a rubbish pit without realising what they had done.
"It was not a decision that was made because they were religious materials," Allen said on Tuesday, one day after Afghan workers at the rubbish pit found the books. "It was not a decision that was made with respect to the faith of Islam. It was a mistake. It was an error. The moment we found out about it we immediately stopped and we intervened."
A Western military official with knowledge of the incident said it appeared that the copies of the Koran and other Islamic readings in the library were being used to fuel extremism, and that detainees were writing on the documents to exchange extremist messages. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to release the information.
As Wednesday's rally in Kabul turned violent, city police chief Mohammad Ayub Salangi arrived at the scene with hundreds of reinforcements who broke up the protest.
"They have the right to demonstrate, but they have to do it in accordance with the law," said Salangi's deputy, Daud Amin, who also at the scene. "It is their right to demonstrate. ... We are also Muslim and we say it was a wrong action from the Islamic point of view."
Several kilometres away, hundreds of protesters were throwing rocks at Camp Phoenix, a US military base, said Kabul provincial police spokesman Ashmatullah Stanekzai. Shots were also fired in the air at Camp Phoenix.
After the Koran burning was made public on Tuesday, more than 2,000 Afghans protested outside the Bagram Abase near the capital. The incident took place late on Monday, when Afghan workers saw soldiers dumping the books in a pit where rubbish is burned and noticed the Korans and other religious books among the garbage.
Health Ministry spokesman Ghulam Sakhi Kargar said one person was killed on Wednesday in protests in Kabul.
In the eastern province of Parwan, security forces killed one protester during a demonstration in Shinwar district, according Adbul Khalil Farangi, the director of the main hospital in the provincial capital Charikar. He said another 15 people were wounded.
Shinwar district police chief Mohammad Sediq said they were investigating unconfirmed reports that another six people may have been killed during a protest by about 1,200 people.
District chief Sayfaullah, who goes by only one name, said village elders had reported the six deaths, but authorities had not been able to confirm them.
Both said that some protesters fired on police as they tried to storm the district compound, prompting security forces to respond with gunfire.
A protest in Logar province also turned violent after someone in a group of about 300 demonstrators opened fire on police. Police returned fire, killing one protester, said provincial police chief General Ghulam Sakhi Roogh Lawanay.
Two protesters and two police officers were also wounded, he added. He said the protesters had come from neighbouring Wardak province, an insurgent hotbed.
Lawanay said a protest by about 400 people in Logar's capital Pule Alam ended peacefully.
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