Afghan rage: UN compound stormed, shootout at Interior Ministry

Two NATO advisers have been killed during a shooting inside the Interior Ministry in the capital Kabul. Also, thousands are storming a UN compound in Kunduz province, as protests over recent Koran burning in Bagram are raging throughout Afghanistan.

According to AFP, police opened fire at the protesters when they tried to get inside the UN building. Another 47 people were injured, the news agency reports.

Part of a UN compound in the Afghan city of Kunduz has been set alight, the BBC reports.

While details of the shooting inside the Interior Ministry in Kabul remain unclear, NATO said that initial reports indicate an individual turned his weapon against the service members, American citizens.

Saturday’s violence around the country has added more victims to the 25 killed in the first four days of protests.

Fresh protests are taking place in various provinces.

The shooting took place in Logar province south of Kabul after hundreds of angry protesters clashed with security forces. Two people were wounded, reports Reuters. Protests erupted in several other provinces on Saturday as security forces remained on high alert.

The Koran burning has inflamed anti-Western sentiment already smoldering over abuses by US-led foreign troops. The incident took place on Monday at the Bagram military base. The Koran and other sacred texts were seized from arrested Afghans and burnt by accident, insists Gen. John Allen, commander of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force. 

He told media the texts had been confiscated from detainee center’s library as they seemed to have “extremist inscriptions” on some of the pages. US troops suspected that those books were being used in order to “facilitate extremist communications.” Gen. Allen stressed that the materials were gathered for disposal and inadvertently given to troops for burning.

Earlier on Thursday, President Obama has sent an official letter of apology to President Karzai. “I convey my deepest sympathies and ask you and the people to accept my deepest apologies,” the letter read.
NATO officials made their apologies immediately after the incident, but this did not prevent riots breaking out the country.

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