Police kill 7 at anti-US protests in Afghanistan
Wednesday 22 February 2012
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EmailAfghan police shot and killed at least seven people protesting today against the burning of a Koran at the US army's Bagram base.
The Interior Ministry said that the deaths occurred in Kabul, Jalalabad and in the provinces of Logar and Parwan. Four of the deaths were in Parwan.
The ministry said guards at a US base outside Kabul killed one man and two more were killed during protests in Jalalabad and Logar.
Police in Kabul shot into the air over a crowd outside a housing complex for foreigners and a US base on the city's outskirts.
Angry demonstrators nearby set a petrol tanker ablaze on the motorway linking Kabul with Jalalabad.
The protesters chanted "Death to America" and "Death to Karzai" as they hurled rocks and set fires outside the Green Village complex, which is home to foreign mercenaries, police and some US-led troops.
A young man at the Kabul protest who gave his name as Ajmal said: "When the Americans insult us to this degree we will join the resistance."
In Jalalabad protesters shouted "Long live Mullah Omar," referring to the Taliban's spiritual leader.
The US apologised on Tuesday for the burning of books, including Korans, that had reportedly been pulled from the shelves of a detention centre library adjoining Bagram airbase because they contained messages or inscriptions deemed extremist.
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