Quran-Burning Protests Escalate

Afghans hold an effigy of President Barack Obama at a demonstration Friday near Kabul. Some two dozen people have been killed in protests.

Afghan demonstrators shout anti-US slogans

KABUL — Afghanistan's government and religious leaders struggled to mollify angry worshippers Friday, as a new wave of deadly protests against the burning of Qurans at a U.S. military base swept across the country.

While most of Friday's demonstrations ended peacefully, several degenerated into turbulent clashes between Afghan police and marchers chanting anti-American slogans. The deadliest of these clashes took place in Herat, a normally tranquil city in western Afghanistan, where demonstrators tried to march toward the U.S. consulate compound. At least seven people were killed and 65 injured during confrontations with the Afghan security forces in the province, according to Mahiddin Noori, a spokesman for the Herat governor.

At one point during the unsuccessful attempt to reach the U.S. Consulate, three demonstrators were killed when they set fire to a police truck equipped with heavy ammunition. The truck exploded amid the group of police and protesters.

In total, at least two dozen people have been killed, including two U.S. soldiers, in four days of violence that erupted after U.S.-led coalition forces at the Bagram Airfield tried to burn a truckload of Islamic literature, including copies of the Quran, Islam's holy book. Read More...

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