KABUL: One person was killed and 18 others were injured Sunday in what officials described as an accidental explosion that ripped through crowds of protesters in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar.
Hundreds of people had taken to the streets to protest against the burning of a Koran in the United States by pastor Terry Jones last month.
Zemarai Bashary, an interior ministry spokesman, said a gas bottle exploded in a traffic police booth set ablaze by protesters during the anti US demonstrations, which have rocked Afghan cities and claimed 22 lives since Friday.
"The protesters set ablaze a traffic police booth. Inside there was a gas bottle which exploded," Bashary told AFP. He said three protesters nearby were injured. Bashary said the blast was "accidental."
Abdul Qayoum Pukhla, the provincial public health director, told AFP that one person was killed and 18 others were injured in the blast. Pukhla also said the explosion was caused by fire in the police booth.
Earlier authorities had said that one person had died and 16 injured in clashes with security forces. On Saturday 10 people were killed and more than 80 others injured in day long protests in Kandahar city.
Angry protests began on Friday in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif where a mob attacked the office of the United Nations and killed seven of its staff a Norwegian, a Swede, a Romanian and four Nepalese guards.
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