At least four people were killed and dozens injured in a riot in eastern Afghanistan yesterday as thousands of students rioted for a second day in Jalalabad, in protest to a story published in Newsweek that interrogators in Cuba kept copies of the Qur’an in toilets, and “in at least one case flushed a holy book down the toilet”.

Offices in Jalalabad were set on fire, shops sacked and consulates and UN buildings attacked by rioters, according to witnesses. Police fired to disperse crowds several times and army helicopters were said to have “buzzed” the crowds. Doctors in the city confirmed that four people had died. There are reports that the protests had spread to the city of Khost, with hundreds of students taking to the streets.

The protesters also denounced Afghanistan’s president, Hamid Karzai, destroying a picture of him and shouting “death to America’s allies” and “death to Karzai”, as well as “death to Bush”. “We don’t want America, we don’t want Karzai, we want Islam,” they shouted.

The administration’s incompetence in the war on terror continues to amaze.