Protesters surround UN office in Afghanistan in fifth day of violence.

Arabs Today - Three people were shot dead by Afghan security forces on Saturday as protests over the burnings of the Holy Koran at a NATO base raged for a fifth day, officials have said.
The burning of the holy texts at the Bagram compound this week has deepened public mistrust of NATO forces struggling to stabilise Afghanistan before foreign combat troops withdraw by the end of 2014.
Despite an apology from US President Barack Obama and a call for restraint from Afghan leader Hamid Karzai, thousands took to the streets after 12 people were killed and dozens wounded on Friday, the bloodiest day yet in demonstrations. The death toll has now reached 26.
Thousands of protesters surrounded a UN compound in the northern Afghan city of Kunduz Saturday and clashed with police, in a fifth day of deadly demonstrations over the burning of Korans, police said.
"The protesters are clashing with the police and trying to enter the (UN) compound, but police have stopped them so far," Sarwar Husaini, Kunduz police spokesman, told AFP. City medical sources said one person had been killed.
One person was shot dead in Logar province south of Kabul after hundreds of protesters, many chanting “Death to America!” – a slogan heard at protests throughout the week —charged at police. Two people were wounded.
In the restive northern Kunduz province, two protesters were shot dead by Afghan security forces as they set alight shops and buildings, senior police detective Ghulam Mohn Farhad told Reuters. Several people were wounded.
Twenty people were wounded when demonstrators hurled stones in eastern Laghman province and tried to storm the governor's house.
A demonstrator in Mihtarlam, in northeastern Laghman province, named only as Abdullah, who put the crowd there at “around 2,000”, said: “The protesters turned violent and were throwing stones at the governor’s palace.
“Gunshots were fired by the security forces.”
Police were trying to control the crowd, but were not shooting out of concern that even shots in the air would further incite them, Sarjang said.
The capital, Kabul, was calm, with police and security forces deployed across the city.
Rallies were being held in the eastern provinces of Logar and Nangarhar, and the central province of Sari Pul, government and local police sources said, adding that those gatherings were largely peaceful so far.
In Sari Pul, demonstrator Mohammad Sadiq said “around 5,000” people had gathered at the Pul-e-Khishti mosque. “They condemned the holy Koran burning,” he said. “It is not violent yet.”
Authorities were not immediately able to confirm the size of the crowd.
Anger also spread to Afghanistan's western neighbour, as hundreds of Pakistani activists took to the streets on Friday protesting the desecration of the book. Demonstrators chanted "Death to America" and demanded their leaders resign, while setting fire to a US flag.
Up to 300 people blocked the main Grand Trunk road in Peshawar, stomped on and set fire to the flag, and kicked a dummy representing US and beat it with sticks while it was burning.
“The ugly face of America has been revealed with the desecration of holy Koran,” a banner read.
In the capital Islamabad, the general secretary of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) told the crowd that the Islamic world should review its relations with the United States.
In Karachi, hundreds of activists of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, blacklisted as a terror organisation for associations with Al-Qaeda, chanted “Death to America”.
“There is just one remedy for America —jihad and only jihad,” the crowd shouted.
The Koran is a religious text central to the Islamic faith. Muslims unequivocally consider the Koran to be the literal word of God and treat each copy with deep reverence. Desecration is considered one of the worst forms of blasphemy.
At least 26 people have been killed and hundreds wounded since Tuesday, when it first emerged that Korans and other Islamic religious materials had been thrown into a fire pit used to burn garbage at the main US base - Bagram Air Field.
US officials have apologised and said it was a terrible mistake, but the incident has sent thousands to the streets.
President Hamid Karzai’s government and the US-led NATO mission in Afghanistan have appealed for calm and restraint, fearful that Taliban insurgents are trying to exploit the anti-American backlash.
The circumstances surrounding the Koran incident are still subject to investigation. But US officials told AFP the military removed the books from a prison at Bagram because inmates were suspected of using them to pass messages.