Citizens rally against US occupation troops

Protesters attacked a Nato base in Faizabad, throwing rocks at the gate and setting fire to a US flag before police waded in to disperse the angry demonstration.

One person was shot dead and scores were injured in the melee.

Elsewhere in Afghanistan, worshippers spilled out of mosques after prayers marking the end of Ramadan and onto the streets to register their anger at the Florida-based Dove World Outreach Centre's plan to burn the Muslim holy book on the ninth anniversary of the September 11 2001 attacks.

US President Barack Obama has roundly condemned the proposed stunt, describing it as a "recruiting tool for al-Qaida" and the church's pastor Terry Jones has reportedly decided to call it off.

Three thousand people held a protest on the main road in Nangarhar province, where protesters burned an effigy of Mr Obama.

In western Ghor province about 2,000 people marched after attending Eid prayers, while in Mazar-i-Sharif, large crowds marched through the streets punching the air and burning a US flag.

In Farah province hundreds of people gathered in Bala Blok district shouting anti-US slogans.

Taliban leader Mullah Omar released a communique on Wednesday calling on Afghan people to redouble their struggle and push all 150,000 foreign troops out of the country.

Mr Omar, who has a $10 million (£6.4m) bounty on his head from the US government said: "Put all your strength and planning behind the task of driving away the invaders and regaining independence of the country.

"The expansion, momentum and success of this jihadi resistance has now approached close to its destination," Mr Omar said.

He noted that the US and other Nato member states "are now under pressures from their people due to the growing and heavy military expenditures, casualties and the fruitlessness of the war."

Violence in Afghanistan is at its worst since US-led invasion troops overthrew Mr Omar's hard-line Islamist regime in late 2001, with a record number of Western casualties and soaring civilian deaths.