KABUL (PAN): At least eight people were killed and 21 others wounded as protests over alleged burning of the Quran by US troops at the Bagram Airbase continued across Afghanistan for a second day on Wednesday, officials and witnesses said.

Six men were killed and a dozen others wounded when an anti-US demonstration turned violent in the central province of Parwan. In the Shinwari district, furious protestors stormed the district headquarters building and clashed with police, the district chief said.

Angry citizens blocked the Darul Aman-Deh Mazang road near the parliament building. The protestors gathered in the Charahi Qambar locality on the western outskirts of Kabul and blocked the road leading to the Wolesi Jirga.

Raising slogans against foreign troops, the protestors sought serious punishment for the soldiers who burnt four copies of the Quran on Monday night. “Several times the foreign troops have desecrated the sacred book and then got away with mere apologies,” Mualvi Nasrullah told Pajhwok Afghan News.

The criminals should be sentenced to death, demanded the religious scholar, who said: “Our leaders fought against the Russian occupation of Afghanistan. Why don’t they declare Jihadagainst the international troops in the country?”

The enraged demonstrators, who also denounced the government of President Hamid Karzai, threw stones at journalists to prevent them from entering the area. A man, who tried to enter the parliament building, was shot injured by police and taken to hospital.

PAJHWOK/Hewad Hashimi