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Protesters take to the streets in Kabul
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February 08, 2006, 13:00
At least two Afghans were killed and 16 wounded, a police official said today, during a protest in the southern province of Zabul against cartoons in European newspapers depicting Islam's Prophet Mohammed.
The latest deaths in the town of Qalat brought the total number of Afghans who have been killed this week during protests in different parts of the country to nine.
Nasim Mullahkhel, the provincial police chief says police in Qalat fired in the air to disperse 600 protesters, after they hurled stones at police and set alight at least one police vehicle. Some of the protesters then moved towards a nearby US military base, Mullahkhel said. The police tried to stop them.
Policeman killed
Seven police and nine civilians were wounded during the protest, according to the police chief. Witnesses say five people have been killed during the clashes, including a policeman. The cartoons were first published in a Danish newspaper in September but European newspapers reignited controversy last week when they reprinted them in a show of support for press freedom.
Protesters in Afghanistan have tried to attack the Danish embassy in Kabul and other foreign installations, including the main US military base at Bagram, north of Kabul. They have also turned their anger on police trying to stop them.
Yesterday, police opened fire on a mob trying to storm a NATO peacekeeping base housing Norwegian troops in the north western town of Maymana, killing four people and injuring five others. Two people have also died during clashes at Bagram and one in eastern Laghman province this week.
Bloody protests in May over a Newsweek magazine report of desecration of the Koran also quickly took on an anti-foreign bent, with UN and aid agency offices attacked in several parts of the country. – Reuters
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