KABUL, Afghanistan – Thousands of Afghans staged new demonstrations Friday over the burning of Korans at a U.S. military base in Afghanistan, evidence that President Barack Obama's apology has so far failed to quiet the outrage over the incident.
About 4,000 protesters marched toward the
governor's compound in Khost, the capital of Khost province, police
said. In the eastern part of Nangarhar province, several thousand
shouted "Death to America!" and burned a cardboard picture of Obama.
In the capital Kabul,
about 100 protesters gathered near the Ministry of Defense but
scattered when Afghan soldiers fired in the air. One protester suffered a
bullet wound in his right leg.
Anti-American protesters also gathered in
several other locations around Kabul, including in the city's east,
where a demonstrator, his clothes covered in blood, was carried from the
scene as about 200 police tried to push the crowd back.
"We don't care about Obama's apology," said
Kamaluddin, a 25-year-old Kabul protester who uses only one name. "We
have to protest to be responsible to our god. They are burning our
Koran. An apology is not enough."
Afghan security forces were put on high
alert to deal with demonstrations that were expected around the country
after Friday prayers.
U.S. Gen. John Allen, the top commander of U.S. and NATO
troops in Afghanistan, said an investigation into the Koran burning
incident at Bagram Air Field was under way and called on Afghans to be
patient and exercise restraint.
"Working together with the Afghan leadership
is the only way for us to correct this major error and ensure that it
never happens again," Allen said in a statement.
He called on everyone "to exercise patience and restraint as we continue to gather the facts."
The U.S.-led military coalition says the
Muslim holy books were sent by mistake on Feb. 19 to a garbage burn pit
at Bagram Air Field, north of the capital.
Despite Afghan President Hamid Karzai's appeal for calm, thousands of protesters, some shouting "Long live Islam!"
and "Death to America!" rallied Thursday in the capital and in seven of
Afghanistan's 34 provinces. At least five protesters were killed.
The deadliest protest was held outside an
American base in the Khogyani district of Nangarhar province. Two
protesters were killed by Afghan police there and an Afghan soldier
turned his gun on U.S. troops, killing two Americans. Elsewhere, a
Norwegian soldier was wounded by a hand grenade hurled into a coalition
compound.
The unrest started Tuesday, when Afghan
workers at the sprawling American base noticed that Korans and other
Islamic texts were in the trash that coalition troops dumped into a pit
where garbage is burned. Some Afghan workers burned their fingers as
they tried to salvage some of the books. Afghan government officials
said initial reports indicated four Korans were burned.
The materials had been taken from a library
at Parwan Detention Facility, which adjoins the base, because they
contained extremist messages or inscriptions. Writing inside a Koran is
forbidden in the Islamic faith, although it was unclear whether the
handwritten messages were found in the holy book or other reading
materials.
A military official said it appeared that detainees at the prison were exchanging messages by making notations in the texts.
A delegation of Afghan religious leaders,
lawmakers and government representatives visited Bagram as part of the
investigation. They issued a statement late Thursday calling for an end
to protests and accused insurgents of infiltrating the gatherings to
foment violence. They said they expected those responsible for the Koran
burning to be prosecuted through the U.S. military court system.
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