NATO forces kill two anti-US protestors in southern Afghanistan

Sep 16, 2010, 12:50 GMT

Kabul - Two protestors were killed Thursday after they tried to enter a NATO base in southern Afghanistan during a demonstration against the burning of the Koran, a police official said.

Hundreds of men took to the streets in the Chora district of Uruzgan province, chanting 'death to America' as they protested a US church's plan to burn copies of the Koran, even though the burning did not go ahead.

The demonstration turned violent when the men threw stones at the military base, Gulab Khan Wardak, the deputy provincial police chief said, adding that the soldiers fired on the protestors as they tried to overrun the base.

'Two protestors were killed, and two others were injured,' Wardak said.

NATO also confirmed the incident in a statement, saying around 100 Afghan civilians threw rocks at soldiers guarding the base.

It said a protestor armed with an AK-47 assault rifle tried to enter the base through a side gate and was shot by a soldier serving in the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.

Plans by Florida minister Terry Jones to burn Korans Saturday as part of his self-proclaimed International Burn a Koran Day prompted outrage around the world, which was barely quelled by his last-minute decision to not burn one after all.

At least four protestors were killed and dozens more injured in previous anti-Koran-burning demonstrations in Afghanistan in the past week, but Thursday was the first incident in which NATO forces were directly involved.

On Wednesday, at least one man was killed and 35 police and 11 protestors were injured in Kabul after clashes erupted between demonstrators and police.

The tensions came ahead of Saturday's parliamentary elections.

The protestors tore down candidates' posters in Kabul on Wednesday and vowed that they would not take part in the process which is supported by US and other Western countries.