Two die in Afghan protest over Quran burning

KABUL - Two people protesting against the desecration of the Quran died after clashes with Afghan security forces Sunday, witnesses said.

A group of about 500 people converged on the headquarters of Afghanistan’s Baraki Barak district Sunday morning chanting anti-American slogans, apparently prompted by the plans, now cancelled, of a US pastor who had wanted to burn Qurans Saturday to protest plans for a mosque near New York’s Ground Zero.

The crowd chanted slogans like “Death to America” and “Death to puppet government”, throwing stones at US tanks and Afghan forces.

Some Afghan soldiers were injured by the stones, prompting others to fire into the crowd, killing two and injuring five, reported a witness who lives near the headquarters.

The plans by Terry Jones, the Florida pastor, to burn a Quran as part of his self-proclaimed “International Burn a Quran Day” prompted outrage throughout most of the world, which was only barely quelled by his last-minute decision to not burn a Quran after all.