1/13/2010 5:24 AM ET Afghan police said Wednesday nine people were killed in a shoot-out during a mass demonstration in a provincial Afghan town over the alleged burning of a copy of the Holy Koran by foreign troops.
According to local residents and police, violence broke out Tuesday in the Garmsir district of the southern province of Helmand following rumors that NATO-led forces had defiled a copy of the Muslim holy book during a military operation on Monday.
Eight people were killed when the protesters attacked national security officials in Garmsir, deputy provincial police chief Kamaluddin Khan said, adding 13 civilians and two Afghan policemen were also wounded in the incident.
Shooting of the protesters, numbering over 1,000, occurred after an Afghan guard outside a nearby building was killed by gunfire "from the demonstrators' side," he said.
NATO denied foreign troops desecrating Koran and said it had no information confirming the civilian deaths, but that it was investigating the incident along with Afghan security officials.
According to local residents and police, violence broke out Tuesday in the Garmsir district of the southern province of Helmand following rumors that NATO-led forces had defiled a copy of the Muslim holy book during a military operation on Monday.
Eight people were killed when the protesters attacked national security officials in Garmsir, deputy provincial police chief Kamaluddin Khan said, adding 13 civilians and two Afghan policemen were also wounded in the incident.
Shooting of the protesters, numbering over 1,000, occurred after an Afghan guard outside a nearby building was killed by gunfire "from the demonstrators' side," he said.
NATO denied foreign troops desecrating Koran and said it had no information confirming the civilian deaths, but that it was investigating the incident along with Afghan security officials.
