US commander in Afghanistan apologises over Koran 'burning'

California Telegraph Tuesday 21st February, 2012

KABUL - Hundreds of angry demonstrators gathered outside the Bagram airbase in Afghanistan Tuesday to protest the alleged burning of the Koran, the Muslim holy book, by soldiers at the base. The US commander of NATO forces apologized for the alleged act and has ordered a probe.

Local labourers were quoted as saying that the material that had been put in a burn pit at Bagram, the main U.S. military base in Afghanistan, included copies of the Koran.

In quick damage control, Gen. John R. Allen, commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), issued a statement offering apologies.

"I offer my sincere apologies for any offense this may have caused, to the President of Afghanistan, the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, and most importantly, to the noble people of Afghanistan.

"I assure you ... I promise you ... this was NOT intentional in any way," he said in written statement as well as in a video released on a U.S. military website.

"When we learned of these actions, we immediately intervened and stopped themThe materials recovered will be properly handled by appropriate religious authorities," he said.

Meanwhile, U.S. helicopters hovered above as more than 1,000 people held a demonstration and some also threw stones.

The crowd shouted "Death to Americans" and "Death to infidels" outside the airbase, north of Kabul. The guards retaliated by firing rubber bullets on the crowd.

Angry protests also took place in Kabul.

The incident comes a month after an online video showed four US soldiers urinating on the corpses of three Taliban insurgents. The incident had provoked global outrage.