Seven killed in Afghan protests over Quran burning

Protests over the burning of Qurans at a U.S. air base in Afghanistan have left seven dead, according to The Associated Press, as Afghan President Hamid Karzai called for calm Wednesday.

A NATO official confirmed the Afghan casualties at a Wednesday briefing and vowed a quick investigation to find out why the Qurans and other Islamic religious materials wound up in the burn pit at Bagram Air Base.

Protests that started Tuesday when news of the burnings became public continued in full force Wednesday. The AP reported that seven people were killed in four separate incidents as the protests flared across the country.

Karzai said in a statement Wednesday that “the people have the right to protest peacefully, but I appeal to my countrymen not to resort to violence," according to the AP.

The White House, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Afghanistan commander Gen. John Allen all issued apologies Tuesday for the burnings.

German Brig. Gen. Carsten Jacobson, spokesman for the International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) in Afghanistan, told reporters via teleconference Wednesday that results from the investigation could come as soon as Thursday morning. He said Afghan officials were participating in the investigation into the burnings.

Jacobson said that the burning was a “grave incident.” “We have seen the implications, the understandable anger of people of Afghanistan about what they have seen and what they have heard,” he said.

Jacobson reiterated that the burnings were an inadvertent mistake, and said that all ISAF forces will receive cultural training on the “proper handling” of religious materials in the next two weeks.

He could not say how many Qurans were burned, a figure he said would come out when the investigation was released.

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