Three killed in Afghanistan UN compound attack

KUNDUZ: At least three demonstrators were killed Saturday, medical sources said, as protesters tried to storm a UN compound in northern Afghanistan in a fifth day of violence over Quran burning.

Sahad Mokhtar, head of the public health department in Kunduz, said: "The report we have so far from hospitals is three killed, 47 wounded in today's demonstrations."

An AFP correspondent at the UN complex in the city saw police firing at protesters to try to stop them entering the premises, while demonstrators burned tyres and traffic booths across Kunduz.

Denise Jeanmonod, a spokeswoman for UNAMA, the United Nations' mission in Afghanistan, confirmed the incident, saying that the organisation was "assessing the situation at the scene."

But she refused to give further details "for the security of staff" at the compound, or to say how many people were there. (AFP)