ASADABAD, Afghanistan (AFP)
Hundreds of angry villagers demonstrated in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday claiming that U.S. troops had burnt the holy Quran, a charge the U.S.-led coalition rejected.
Residents of Kunar province blocked a road for several hours before parliamentarians, in their home districts for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, were able to calm the crowd, an AFP reporter said.
The protesters claimed coalition forces had torn and burnt a Quran copy during an overnight raid in which they had arrested four men.
The AFP reporter saw torn pages of the Muslim holy book in the village of Kodu, which is about 20 kilometres (12 miles) south of the provincial capital Asadabad.
The coalition, which is rounding up Taliban and al-Qaeda militants, confirmed there had been an operation in which four men were detained but rejected the allegations about the Quran.
"The coalition force involved in this incident didn't desecrate any religious articles," said coalition spokesman Army Major Chris Belcher.
"We respect all religions and treat the holy articles with the respect they deserve."
But the owner of the house where two men were arrested said the soldiers burst into his house in the early hours of the morning and gone through his books.
"They tied up and took two of my sons with them," the man, Char Gul, said. "They went through our books, spread them on the floor.
They tore and set ablaze a copy of the Holy Quran and they took another Quran with them."
An elder, Haji Mumtaz, said the raid started at midnight and lasted until early morning. "They took them with four people and they desecrated the holy Koran," he said.
Afghanistan is a deeply devout country and allegations of abuse of Islam have in the past touched off protests that have turned deadly.
In April 2005 thousands of people took to the streets to protest allegations in Newsweek magazine that the Quran was desecrated at the U.S. detention camp at Guantanamo Bay. |
