Reuters, June 29, 2010


U.S. dog raid rumor sparks violent Afghan clash

Some residents said U.S. forces had caused outrage on Monday night when dog handlers entered a religious school in Qalacha, on the southern outskirts of Kabul, and detained several people

Afghan police clashed on Tuesday with dozens of stone-throwing protesters who gathered at a religious school on the outskirts of the capital to complain about arrests by foreign forces.

Reuters witnesses saw police firing rounds into the air and on the ground to disperse the protesters, and also what appeared to be three lifeless bodies being carried away by a police vehicle.

Khalil Dastyar, deputy police chief of Kabul, told reporters at the scene that 5 protesters and 15 police had been wounded in the clashes.

Some residents said U.S. forces had caused outrage on Monday night when dog handlers entered a religious school in Qalacha, on the southern outskirts of Kabul, and detained several people.

Dastyar said that report was a rumor and only Afghan police had been involved in the operation. A spokeswoman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) also said it was an Afghan-only affair.

(Reporting by Hamid Shalizi; Editing by David Fox)

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