Afghanistan News: At Least 8 Killed in Protests over Qur'an Burning

Photo: Ahmad Masood (Reuters)At least eight people were reportedly killed and almost two dozen injured today in protests in Afghanistan over the alleged burning of the Qur'an at the American airbase, Camp Bagram.

Protests were held in the cities of Jalalabad and the capital Kabul, as well as Parwan Province, where Bagram is located. Police clashed with protesters who threw rocks and burnt tires, blocking the highways in several parts of the country.

Afghan news agency Pajhwok reported that police opened fire in Parwan's Shinwari district whne protesters tried to storm government buildings, resulting in at least six deaths. One protester each was killed in Logar Province and in Jalalabad, in Nengrahar Province.

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Afghanistan: "Deadliest Day" for US as 30 Troops Die When Copter Shot Down (Rivera/Rubin/Shanker)

In the deadliest day for American forces in the nearly decade-long war in Afghanistan, insurgents shot down a Chinook transport helicopter on Saturday, killing 30 Americans, including some Navy Seal commandos from the unit that killed Osama bin Laden, as well as 8 Afghans, American and Afghan officials said.

The helicopter, on a night-raid mission in the Tangi Valley of Wardak Province, to the west of Kabul, was most likely brought down by a rocket-propelled grenade, one coalition official said.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, and they could hardly have found a more valuable target: American officials said that 22 of the dead were Navy Seal commandos, including members of Seal Team 6. Other commandos from that team conducted the raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan, that killed Bin Laden in May. The officials said that those who were killed Saturday were not involved in the Pakistan mission.

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