BBC
At least three people have been killed and several injured after police opened fire to break up an anti-US protest in eastern Afghanistan, officials say.
Hundreds of students rioted in the city of Jalalabad over reports that the Koran was desecrated at the US prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
American troops have now been deployed on the streets to keep order.
(SNIP)
All UN and other foreign aid workers in the city have been told to move to safe areas.The protesters chanted "Death to America" and smashed car windows and damaged shops.
The Associated Press news agency reports that they threw stones at a group of US military vehicles.
It said US soldiers fired in the air before quickly leaving the area.
"Police opened fire in the air to control the mob, and some people were injured," Jalalabad police chief Abdul Rehman told AFP.
Jalalabad is 130km (80 miles) east of the Afghan capital, Kabul, close to the Pakistani border.
A US military spokesman in Kabul has said the reported desecration of the Koran was being taken seriously.
"We are investigating this and other complaints to see if in fact it has happened and, if so, to put in place procedures so that it will not happen again," he was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.
On Sunday, the Pakistani government said it was "deeply dismayed" over the reports about the Koran.
Both Pakistan and Afghanistan are close allies of the US in its war against terror.
Insulting the Koran or Islam's Prophet Mohammed is regarded as blasphemy and punishable by death in both Pakistan and Afghanistan.
No comments:
Post a Comment