One dies in Afghanistan protest over Quran burning (Second lead)

KABUL - At least one demonstrator was killed Friday in northeastern Afghanistan at a protest against a Christian minister’s plan to burn Qurans in the US, the provincial government said.

Afghan police opened fire on demonstrators outside a German army camp in Faizabad when they began to throw stones at the camp, said Mohammad Amin Sohail, a spokesman for the government of Badakhshan province.

Five protesters were wounded as were five police officers, he said.

Provincial police chief Agha Noor Kentooz said the demonstrators were dispersed, but he would not confirm the death for the time being.

Sohail said several hundred protesters assembled outside a mosque in Faizabad after prayers for Eid-ul-Fitr, the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. They marched through the provincial capital, their numbers swelling to 5,000 to 10,000 people, until they reached the German camp, whose outskirts are protected by Afghan police, he said.

Protester Maulavi Mohammad Ismail said the demonstration had proceeded smoothly until young people began to throw rocks.

The protesters chanted “Death to America”, “Death to the enemies of Islam” and “The Holy Quran is our law”.

The protest was held a day after Terry Jones, the minister of a small Christian congregation in Florida, said he would call off his plan to burn copies of the Quran Saturday to mark the Sep 11, 2001, terrorist attack. Later in the day, however, he said he might reconsider his decision to call off the event.

His announcement that the burning was called off came after what he claimed was a deal to relocate an Islamic centre near the former site of the World Trade Center, which was destroyed in the 2001 suicide hijackings. But officials with the center in New York denied there was an agreement to move the construction site.

Jones’ plan has drawn international criticism and demands that he not go through with it. General David Petraeus, the top US military commander in Afghanistan, warned it could harm US soldiers. US President Barack Obama called it a “recruitment bonanza for Al Qaeda”.