US Embassy In Afghanistan On Lockdown As Anti-American Protests Continue Over Koran Burning Incident | Fox News
By MB Snow at February 22, 2012 | 12:52 am | Print
KABUL – The American embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan is on lockdown as protests rage in multiple Afghan cities over an incident the U.S. says was inadvertent burning of Muslim holy books at a military base.
“The Embassy is on lockdown; all travel suspended,” the embassy announced on its Twitter page Wednesday. “Please, everyone, be safe out there.”
On the outskirts of the capital city of Kabul, security forces fired volleys of gunshots into the air to disperse hundreds who had gathered outside a housing complex for foreigners. Angry demonstrators set a fuel truck ablaze outside the complex, on a main highway linking the Afghan capital with the eastern city of Jalalabad.
“Death to America,” chanted the angry protesters and automatic weapons fire could be heard, but it was unclear if Afghan security forces or camp guards were firing.
The city’s police chief Mohammad Ayub Salangi arrived at the scene with hundreds of reinforcements in an effort to bring the crowd under control.
A doctor at Kabul’s Wazir Akbar Khan hospital said at least 10 protesters had been brought to the hospital with gunshot wounds. The doctor, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, said one of the wounded was in critical condition.
Several miles away, hundreds were also gathered outside Camp Phoenix, a U.S. military base, and were hurling rocks at the installation, said Kabul provincial police spokesman Ashmatullah Stanekzai. There were reports that shots were also heard near Camp Phoenix.