Afghanistan: deadliest day of Koran violence

A senior adviser to Mr Karzai said the outrage over the burning of religious
texts at Bagram airfield north of Kabul had now become one of the biggest
crises of the past ten years, surpassing previous angry protests about
civilian casualties and other occasions when the Koran has allegedly been
desecrated.

The official, who declined to be named, said dealing with the crisis was
diverting attention and resources from the attempts to hand over the country
to full Afghan control.

The country had been braced for violence for much of the day, before crowds of
worshippers began to leave mosques at around 2pm after the main prayer
gathering of the week.

German forces pulled out several weeks early from a small base in the northern
Takhar province on Friday over concerns the base would be targeted, a
defence ministry spokesman in Berlin said.

In Baghlan province, another protestor was shot dead when a crowd attacked a
foreign base in the city of Pul-e-Khumri.

Barack Obama had sent a letter to Karzai apologising for the unintentional
burning of the Korans at Bagram air base, north of Kabul. Protest spread to
other Muslim nations, with demonstrations also in Malaysia and Pakistan.

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