Official: Gunshots fired inside Afghan ministry

[February 25, 2012]  KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- An Afghan police official says gunfire has erupted inside the Interior Ministry in the capital, Kabul.

The official said Saturday that Westerners who serve as advisers at the ministry were involved in the incident and that there have been at least two casualties.

The police official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to disclose the information.

The incident came on the fifth day of protests across the nation sparked by the burning of Qurans at a U.S. base.

President Barack Obama and other U.S. officials apologized and said it was a terrible mistake, but the incident has sent thousands to the streets in this deeply religious country.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- Protesters threw rocks at police, government buildings and a U.N. office in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, kicking off a fifth day of riots sparked by the burning of Qurans at a U.S. base, officials said.

At least 28 people have been killed and hundreds wounded since Tuesday, when it first emerged that Qurans and religious materials had been thrown into a fire pit used to burn garbage at Bagram Air Field, a large U.S. base north of Kabul. President Barack Obama and other U.S. officials apologized and said it was a terrible mistake, but the incident has sent thousands to the streets in this deeply religious country.

Elsewhere in Afghanistan, six Afghan soldiers were killed and 16 others were wounded when they tried to defuse a bomb, the Afghan Defense Ministry said. The incident occurred in Mukar district of Badghis province in the west.

Hundreds of demonstrators staged peaceful protests in Nangarhar and Paktia provinces, but ones in Laghman, Kunduz and Logar provinces turned violent.

Laghman provincial police chief Abdul Rahman Sarjang said about 1,000 protesters threw stones at Afghan security forces, smashed windows of government buildings and tried to attack the nearby governor's house in the provincial capital Mehterlam. He said eight people were injured -- three policemen, two intelligence officers and three civilians.

Sarjang said there were gunmen among the protesters, but the police did not fire their weapons into the crowd or into the air because they did not want to further incite the mob.

However, Mohammad Jawad, a university student who helped transport injured protesters to the hospital, said at least 20 people were wounded and that most of them were hit by bullets.

"Security forces opened fire on the crowd," Jawad said in a telephone interview from the hospital.

In Kunduz, the capital of Kunduz province in northeast Afghanistan, more than 1,000 protesters demonstrated. At first they were peaceful, but as the protest continued they began throwing stones at government buildings and a U.N. office, said Sarwer Hussaini, a spokesman for the provincial police. He said the police were firing into the air to try to disperse the crowd.

Dr. Saad Mukhtar, health department director in Kunduz, said at least three protesters died and 50 other were injured during the melee.

U.N. officials could not be reached for immediate comment.

About 1,000 protesters burned tires, threw stones and chanted "Long Live Islam!" in Mohammad Agha district of Logar.

"They said it was just a mistake, but it should not have happened," said Khawani, an elderly protester who uses just one name. "We want the government to take the foreigners out of our country. We don't need them. We can look after ourselves."

[Associated Press; By RAHIM FAIEZ]

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