Seven people were killed and more than 20 wounded in protests in Afghanistan today as anger spread over a report that US interrogators at Guantanamo Bay had desecrated the Koran.
Four policemen and national army soldiers were killed in a clash with protesters in Ghazni province, to the southwest of the capital, residents there said.
Three protesters were killed in the remote northeastern province of Badakhshan during a protest there, said provincial police chief Shah Jahan Noori.
Newsweekmagazine said in its May 9th edition that investigators examining abuses at the US military prison found that interrogators "had placed Korans on toilets, and in at least one case flushed a holy book down the toilet".
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Muslims yesterday to resist calls for violence, saying military authorities were investigating the allegations. "Disrespect for the Holy Koran is abhorrent to us all," she said.
Preachers at other mosques in the Afghan capital echoed the call for peaceful protests, saying that was the people's right. Some, like the thousands of high school and college students who protested this week, urged US President George W. Bush to punish those they believe desecrated the Koran.
The United States is holding more than 500 prisoners from its "war on terrorism" at Guantanamo Bay. Many of them were detained in Afghanistan after US-led troops overthrew the Taliban government in late 2001.