Afghan Qur'an Protest Leaves 3 Dead

Protests in Afghanistan against the shooting of a qur'an in Iraq by a US sniper turn deadly. Two civilians and a NATO soldier were killed in the protests. The only thing unusual is that the riots started on a Thursday and not a Friday. BBC

Two civilians and a Nato soldier have been killed in Afghanistan during a demonstration over the shooting of the Koran by a US soldier in Iraq.

The protest by over 1,000 people in Chagcharan turned violent after the crowd tried to storm a Nato base.

President Bush apologised earlier this week for the Koran incident, in which a copy of the book was found riddled with bullets at a shooting range in Iraq.

He also promised the soldier would be prosecuted.

Whats the soldier being prosecuted for? I agree he did something stupid but thats where it ends. Would the soldier have been prosecuted if he shot up a bible, or a copy of the Da Vinci Code or any other book?....

The shooting broke out during clashes between the police and demonstrators outside a Nato reconstruction team base commanded by Lithuanian soldiers in Chagcharan, the capital of Ghor province.

Protesters were chanting anti-US slogans and throwing rocks, and tried to enter the gates of the base, police said.

General Ikramuddin Yawar, chief of police in western Afghanistan, said: "There was shooting during the demonstration. Two civilians have been killed. We don't know who shot them."

He added that the protest had been organised by students from a religious school.

But Nato said that Afghan police killed the two civilians, according to Reuters.