Protests against the burning of a Qur'an in Florida that had seen 20 deaths in Afghanistan have entered their third day and added to the death toll.
Angry demonstrations are taking place in the south and east of the war-ravaged country today, as the Taliban continues to call on people to rise up, blaming government forces for any violence.
This morning's flashpoints include southern Kandahar city where hundreds have taken to the streets for the second day in a row. During those battles one officer was shot dead with a further two officers and 20 civilians ending up wounded, said provincial health director Qayum Pokhla.
In Jalalabad, the largest city in the east, hundreds of demonstrators fought with police and blocked the main highway for three hours.
Most of the demonstration included shouting for U.S. troops to leave, burning an effigy of U.S. Presdient Barack Obama and stamping on a drawing of a U.S. flag.
More than 1,000 people set tires ablaze to stop highway traffic in eastern Parwan province, provincial police chief Sher Ahmad Maladani said.
Nine people died during a demonstration in the southern city of Kandahar on Saturday, while another 81 people were injured as protesters lashed out at Americans and other foreigners in the war-torn country.
Investigators claimed that insurgents may have infiltrated the crowd in Kandahar and set off the violence. Seventeen people have been arrested by Afghan National Security Forces.
Outrage originally spread through the Muslim world on Friday after Qur'an burning, but it was in Afghanistan that the anger turned into deadly violence in the north and south of the country.
The protests were held in response to the burning of a Qur'an last month by the Rev. Terry Jones. The Florida preacher made headlines in 2010 when he first announced plans to burn the Muslim holy book, but backed off amid political pressure.
Jones made good on his threat on March 20, though most Afghans did not hear about it until President Hamid Karzai condemned the move four days later.
Rob Elkington, the pastor of Whitby's Faith Baptist Church, told CTV News Channel Sunday that both he and his congregation were angered by the burning.
"His actions are more a cry of fear than actions that should be done by an evangelical pastor," he said. "An apology needs to be made and Christian leaders need to distance themselves from his actions."
When responding to questions about how other religious leaders felt about the situation, he read a message from a Muslim acquaintance. He said: "This story is perfect proof that ignorance is non-denominational. Just as burning the Qur'an is not an act of Christianity, neither are the attacks in Afghanistan an act of Islam."
The Taliban said in a statement emailed to media outlets that the U.S. and other Western countries have wrongly excused the burning a Qur'an by the pastor of a Florida church on March 20 as freedom of speech and that Afghans "cannot accept this un-Islamic act."
Adding that those killed during the protests were unarmed demonstrators.
"Afghan forces under the order of the foreign forces attacked unarmed people during the protests, killing them and arresting some, saying there were armed people among these protesters, which was not true," the statement said.
NATO officials continued to condemn the Qur'an burning, releasing a statement to quell continuing violence.
"We condemn, in particular, the action of an individual in the United States who recently burned the Holy Qur'an," said the statement issued by military commander Gen. David Petraeus and the top NATO civilian representative in Afghanistan, Mark Sedwill.
"We further hope the Afghan people understand that the actions of a small number of individuals, who have been extremely disrespectful to the Holy Qur'an, are not representative of any of the countries of the international community who are in Afghanistan to help the Afghan people," the statement said.
Yesterday, Obama said desecration of the Qur'an "is an act of extreme intolerance and bigotry" and extended his condolences to the families' of those killed. But he said that did not justify attacking and killing innocent people, calling it "outrageous and an affront to human decency and dignity."
The incidents follow a violent protest on Friday at a UN compound in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif that left at least 11 dead, including four Nepalese guards and three other foreigners.
Wayne Sapp, a pastor at the Florida church, said the events in Afghanistan were tragic but that he did not regret the church's decision to burn the Qur'an.
"I in no way feel like our church is responsible for what happened," Sapp told the Associated Press in a telephone interview on Friday.
With files from Associated Press
