KABUL, April 3: Two people were killed and dozens injured on Sunday as demonstrations erupted for a third day in Afghanistan over the burning of the Holy Quran in the United States, officials said.

President Hamid Karzai repeated his call to the White House, senate and United Nations to bring to justice Terry Jones, the pastor who masterminded the burning of the holy book, his office said.

One person was killed and 20 injured in what officials described as an accidental explosion that ripped through crowds of protesters in the southern city of Kandahar.

Hundreds of people had taken to the streets to protest against the burning of the Holy Quran by Jones at an evangelical church in Florida last month.

Violent protests that began in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif on Friday have claimed the lives of at least 22 people, including seven foreign UN staff.

“The protesters set ablaze a traffic police booth. Inside there was a gas bottle which exploded,” interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary said, calling it “accidental”. On Saturday 10 people were killed and more than 80 injured in clashes with security forces during day-long protests in the southern city.

The fresh wave of protests began in the Kandahar city and two adjoining districts on a third day of violent demonstrations sparked by the desecration of the Holy Quran.

Elsewhere, about 500 university students protested in Jalalabad and blocked a key road for several hours, while hundreds of men poured onto the streets in Charikar, capital of the Parwan province, north of Kabul, local television reported.During a security meeting attended by US ambassador Karl Eikenberry and General David Petraeus, commander of the US-led forces, Mr Karzai repeated his call for the US administration and Senate to “condemn the act in strong words... and bring those responsible to justice”, his office said in a statement.—AFP