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At least 10 people were killed and 83 wounded yesterday in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan, during another demonstration against the burning of the Koran at a U.S. church. The previous day a similar march in Mazar i Sharif degenerated into an assault on the UN offices in the city that left 20 dead, including 7 foreign employees of the organization. It is unclear if the violence, the worst in months, is induced by the insurgents to the authorities. In any case, the protests show the extreme sensitivity of the Afghans to any insult to their religion and their increasing weariness with the Western presence in their country.
In another incident, four suicide bombers tried unsuccessfully to force their way into Camp Phoenix, a U.S. military base on the outskirts of the Afghan capital, Kabul. According to an official of the Afghan police, two of them were disguised as women, covered with individual burkas. One of them blew himself up at the gate of access, allowing the second venture a few meters before detonating his explosives. His two accomplices were killed by gunfire from the guards before they could enter. There were no other injuries and a U.S. military spokesman, Major Michael Jackson, said there was "no indication" that the attack was linked to protests by the burning of the Koran.

In Kandahar, thousands of youths armed with sticks took from mid-morning the streets of several neighborhoods in the city, according to testimony gathered by news agencies. The cries of "Death to America", "Death to Karzai's government" and "They have insulted the Koran, the mob burned tires and cars in some cases. Stores closed on its way and most people opted to stay off the streets. Several journalists reported being attacked while trying to cover the protest.

By midafternoon, several hundred demonstrators held a sit-still in the central square of Kandahar, but there were no longer heard gunfire. However, a huge deployment of police blocked access to the area. The police also prevented a group of exalted be directed to the UN mission in that city.

"At least nine people have been killed and 81 injured, and numerous public and private property destroyed, during a demonstration that turned violent," said an official. But later the head of Kandahar's main hospital, Daud Farhad told the Agence France Presse that they had received "10 dead and 83 wounded" bullet or stones. Among the latter, there was a secret service agent and a policeman. The rest were demonstrators.

As the previous day in Mazar i Sharif, police said some protesters were carrying firearms and acknowledged that his officers had used live ammunition to quell the unrest. The governor's spokesman attributed the protests to the Taliban insurgents who have used the burning of the Koran as an excuse to incite violence now that its influence in the southern Kandahar has been diminished by the campaign by NATO forces earlier this year.

Also responsible for Mazar i Sharif yesterday accused the insurgents have used the protests as a cover to attack the UN compound. However, a Taliban spokesman quoted by Reuters news agency denied that his group had anything to do with the incidents in Mazar i Sharif and Kandahar. "It was the reaction of the Afghans," Mujahid said Zabiullah. The Interior Ministry announced it would send a high-level delegation to investigate the cause of the attack, the possible involvement Taliban and why the police were unable to stop the killing. At the moment, there are 30 suspects arrested.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai telephoned the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, to express his condolences for what happened. Karzai, who described the attack as "cruel", undertook to investigate the attack and bring those responsible to justice, according to a statement.

But the Afghan president also called on Ban to "wake up consciences on (...) the sanctity of faith and religious dialogue, especially in countries where such practices have been committed sacrilegious." The secretary general, meanwhile, thanked the gesture and told him to send two senior UN officials to review the security situation. His representative in Kabul, Staffan de Mistura, said last night that despite the attack, the UN will stay in Afghanistan. The international staff of his office in Mazar has been temporarily moved to the capital

"Everybody feels what happened. It was a big mistake and that was not what was intended," says this newspaper from Kabul Aziz Rafiee, director of the Afghan Civil Society Forum. Rafiee accept the official explanation that armed men had infiltrated the demonstrators. "It can not be otherwise because the people who gathered at the exit of the mosque had no weapons," he says. However, accuses the government of lack of crowd control necessary to cope with a situation and not being able to prevent the assault on the UN headquarters. In his opinion, "the emotions of people [on the burning of the Koran] were mixed with the Afghan political game with terrible consequences."

Ruttig Thomas, co-director of Afghanistan Analysts Network and a long experience in the country, shares that idea. "The level of annoyance among Afghans has skyrocketed due to the increase of victims of Western forces, the latest in Kunar and Helmand. The Quran incident has added to the malaise," resume. Ruttig states that "it does not excuse what happened, but it is a factor to be taken into consideration." While in Kabul, Herat or Tahar demonstrations passed peacefully, anti-Western suspicion that makes it very easy to manipulate the feelings.

Mazar i Sharif was one of the most peaceful cities in Afghanistan. In fact, the government in Kabul last month included it among the first in which security will take over Afghan security forces. What happened on Friday but could delay that plan. The violence of the past two days is the worst suffered by the country in recent months. Many international aid organizations urged their staff not to leave home.

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