8 US Soldiers Wounded in Protests at Kunduz Province Base in Afghanistan
Eight U.S. soldiers were wounded on Sunday during protests in the Afghan province of Kunduz.
The soldiers, located at a U.S. forward operating base in the province, were wounded during the sixth day of violent protests in the country when one of the 400 protesters outside the base threw a grenade into the compound.
It is unclear the extent of the injuries suffered by the eight U.S. servicemen.
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Protests broke out across Afghanistan last Tuesday after workers at the coalition-run Bagram Air Base north of Kabul reported copies of the Islamic holy book among a pile of garbage at the base. The workers salvaged some of the copies but others were scorched alongside the garbage at the base's incinerator.
President Barack Obama has issued a public apology regarding the "inadvertent" error, as did NATO.
"We are thoroughly investigating the incident and are taking steps to ensure this does not ever happen again," General John Allen, NATO's highest ranking official in the country, said in a written statement.
"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," he added.
The same day as the eight soldiers were wounded in Kunduz, two American officers were shot dead inside Afghanistan's Interior Ministry building in Kabul. The men served as advisers to the ministry and are thought to have been shot at by a low ranking member of the Afghan security forces. A search is underway to discover the culprit who fled the scene after he killed the men.
On Thursday, two U.S. soldiers were also killed in protests in the eastern province of Nangarhar. Since the protests began nearly a week ago, over two dozen people have been killed in the violent demonstrations.
