Afghanistan: Three Dead After Koran Burning

Three anti-US protesters have been shot dead in Afghanistan amid violent clashes after copies of the Koran were burned at a Nato base.

Officials confirmed the deaths in Parwan, north of capital city Kabul, where demonstrators also set fire to part of a housing compound used by foreign contract workers.

Witnesses said the blaze, during a second day of clashes, damaged part of a guesthouse at the Green Village housing complex, where 1,500 mostly foreign contractors live and work.

Several people have reportedly been wounded in the demonstrations, which have also seen staff at the city's US Embassy placed on lockdown.

The embassy's official Twitter feed said: "The embassy is on lockdown; all travel suspended. Please, everyone, be safe out there."

It came as demonstrators screamed "death to America" during a large protest on the outskirts of the city.

Shots were fired into the crowds when they charged at police lines and smashed car windows.

Witnesses said police had fired the shots, but there was no immediate confirmation from Afghan security forces.

Ajmal, an 18-year-old protester in Kabul, said: "When the Americans insult us to this degree, we will join the insurgents."

Muslims consider the Koran the literal word of God and treat each book with deep reverence. Critics say the latest incident reflects Western troops' failure to grasp the country's religious and cultural sensitivities.

Separate protests also took place in the eastern town of Jalalabad, where demonstrators chanted support for the leader of the Afghan Taliban, the secretive Mullah Mohammad Omar.

And Afghan media said demonstrations had also erupted in the western city of Herat, usually one of the more stable areas in a country devastated by three decades of conflict.

US authorities apologised on Tuesday after Afghan labourers found charred copies of the Koran while collecting rubbish at the Bagram Airbase about an hour's drive north of Kabul.

Demonstrations by as many as 2,000 people broke out as word of the discovery spread.