Thousands of Afghans demonstrated in the northeast for a second day on Saturday, despite the suspension of plans by a U.S. pastor to burn copies of the Quran, officials said.
The renewed protests in the war-torn country came after obscure Florida Pastor Terry Jones called off plans to burn copies of the Quran to mark the ninth anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
The plans triggered outrage in Afghanistan and across the Muslim world. President Barack Obama warned the action could deeply hurt the United States abroad and endanger the lives of U.S. troops.
Several thousand people gathered in three districts in northeastern Badakhshan province, where a day earlier a protester was shot dead outside a German-run NATO base, provincial police chief Aqa Noor Kentuz said.
"Demonstrators have come in their thousands to protest the Koran burning, though so far it is peaceful. Our police force is there to prevent any violence," he told Reuters.
A spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said he was aware of two demonstrations in Badakhshan. He said no ISAF forces were involved and that the protests were not near any military bases.
On Friday, a crowd estimated at 10,000 protested on the streets of Faizabad, the capital of Badakhshan, after special prayers for Eid al-Fitr, the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
One protester was shot dead when a smaller group attacked a German-run NATO base in Faizabad, hurling stones at the outpost. Protesters also gathered in the capital, Kabul, and in four other provinces, mainly in the west of the country.
Similar protests over perceived desecration of Muslim symbols have led to dozens of deaths in Afghanistan in recent years, including after a Danish newspaper published a cartoon depicting the Prophet Mohammad in 2005.
