Afghan Anti-us Protest Leaves Three Dead

Two Afghans and a Nato soldier were killed yesterday during a violent protest in western Afghanistan against a US soldier who used the Qur'an for target practice.

A 1,000-strong crowd gathered outside a military base in remote Ghor province, throwing rocks and setting tents on fire, a Nato spokesman said.

The protesters were enraged by reports that a US sniper used the Islamic holy book for target practice on a shooting range outside Baghdad earlier this month. Afghan police opened fire on the crowd, killing two and wounding at least seven. A soldier from Lithuania was also killed, although it remains unclear who fired the shot.

The Ghor police chief, Shah Jahan Noori, said Taliban militants mingled among the protesters. "Among these people were rebels, who opened fire," he said, adding that 10 officers were also wounded.

The incident highlighted the incendiary power of perceived slights against Islam's holy book combined with rising frustration at the western military presence. Ahmad Khan Rahimi, a local politician who was among the protesters, told the Associated Press they had chanted "Death to America" and "America is against Islam".

Three years ago at least seven people died in riots triggered by reports that American soldiers at Guantánamo Bay flushed a copy of the Qur'an down a toilet. In 2006 protests over Danish cartoons of the prophet Muhammad left at least 11 people dead. Last year a mob enraged by a road accident involving an American vehicle surged through central Kabul, shouting "Death to America".

The incident in Iraq has not prompted wide scale protest, although on Tuesday members of the Afghan parliament's upper house demanded that the US soldier in question should be tried in court, and then staged a walkout in protest.

The incident was also a reminder of sensitivities to US actions across the Muslim world. The current protests started on May 11 when angry Iraqi police found a bullet-riddled copy of the Qur'an, scrawled with graffiti, after American forces pulled out of Radwaniya, west of Baghdad.

Recognizing the potential for trouble, President George Bush has led a stream of apologies to Iraqi officials. In Radwaniya a US officer kissed a copy of the Qu'ran before presenting it to tribal chiefs.

The soldier in question has been sent home and disciplined although the military did not specify his punishment.

Frustrations in Afghanistan have been heightened by the failure of Nato forces and the western-backed government to end the Taliban insurgency. Yesterday a bicycle bomb in Kandahar killed one Afghan soldier and wounded another.

In neighboring Paktika, a suicide bomber attacked a Nato convoy, killing one civilian and wounding four troops, Nato said. There were also rocket attacks on Nato bases in eastern Kunar province.

With presidential elections billed for late 2009, speculation about peace talks is mounting. A former Afghan president, Burhanuddin Rabbani, said yesterday that the Taliban were ready to talk.

The 65-year-old conservative, who leads the opposition in parliament, said he had established contact with some Taliban leaders and recently received "some encouraging messages".