Afghan police shoot at rioters near US base

Seven police and three stone-throwing protesters were wounded during the clash in Qalat, said the city's police chief.

Police shot at protesters on Wednesday to stop them from marching on a US military base, as Afghanistan's top Islamic organisation called for an end to four days of riots over cartoons of Prophet Mohammad.

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Seven police and three stone-throwing protesters were wounded during the clash in Qalat city, said Abdul Bari, the city's police chief.

He said police initially fired into the air to stop the demonstrators from advancing on the US base, but they then had to fire into the crowd.

Members of Afghanistan's Ulama Council, the country's top Islamic clerics' organisation, went on radio and TV stations on Wednesday, calling for an end to the violence.

"Islam says it's all right to demonstrate but not to resort to violence. This must stop," senior cleric Mohammed Usman said.

"We condemn the cartoons but this does not justify violence. These rioters are defaming the name of Islam."