Koran Burning in NATO Error Incites Afghans for 2nd Day BAGRAM, Afghanistan - Protests against the burning by NATO personnel of an undisclosed number of Korans spilled into a second day on Wednesday and seemed poised to widen as the United States Embassy in Kabul ordered a lockdown suspending all travel by its staff. The violent protests began on Tuesday as news of the burning spread along with word that NATO personnel were also preparing to dispose of many more Korans by incineration. NATO officials rushed to apologize publicly and profusely, trying to head off what they feared could be a nationwide outburst of violence as news of the burning was gradually broadcast across the country. About 2,000 Afghans descended on the largest American air base in their country in the bitter cold on Tuesday to protest what is generally regarded as one of the most offensive acts in the Muslim world. By early morning Wednesday, several hundred protesters armed with rocks were blocking the way into central Kabul on the Jalalabad road. They were heading to Camp Phoenix , a NATO camp, and were trying to break through the gates. NATO soldiers were watching from towers and had their weapons pointed toward the crowd, but seemed to be trying to avoid opening fire. News reports said crowds were also massing in the eastern city of Jalalabad. The Associated Press said security forces fired into the air as hundreds of protesters gathered outside a housing complex for foreigners on the outskirts of Kabul, the capital, and set a fuel truck ablaze. The protesters chanted slogans including: "Death to America," witnesses said. In Kabul, the United States Embassy said on Wednesday that its staff were on lockdown, with all travel suspended. The embassy is on lockdown; all travel suspended. Please, everyone, be safe out there," the embassy's official Twitter feed said. The renewed protest came in spite of efforts by the NATO commanding general, John R. Allen, who recorded a statement on Tuesday and sent it to local television and radio networks here, explaining that the burnings had been unintentional. "I offer my sincere apologies for any offense this may have caused, to the president of Afghanistan, the government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and, most importantly, to the noble people of Afghanistan," the statement said. Within a few hours of learning about the episode, General Allen ordered an investigation, and by day's end he issued an order for every coalition soldier in Afghanistan to complete training in the next 10 days in "the proper handling of religious materials." But 10 years into the Afghan war, foreign officials and Afghans alike were shocked that any member of the foreign forces in Afghanistan did not know just how offensive desecrating the Muslim holy book could be, or recognize the potential for violence it could unleash in a country where news of the burning of a single Koran - by a preacher in Florida - provoked mobs to ransack a United Nations office and kill 12 people in April. Because Afghans are fiercely protective of their Islamic faith, the Afghan authorities moved quickly Tuesday to try to control the protest at a gate of Bagram Air Base. The local police and government officials persuaded the crowd at a large demonstration in nearby Kapisa Province to disperse. According to Afghan workers who witnessed the events, around 10 or 11 p.m. on Monday a dump truck escorted by a military vehicle drove up to the landfill at Bagram Air Base, where 20 or so Afghans work. Two uniformed NATO personnel, a man and a woman, began unloading bags of books from the back of the truck and throwing them into a pit for incineration. NATO officials said it was not yet clear if the two people were troops or civilians. Some civilians also wear military uniforms and can easily be mistaken for soldiers. The Afghan workers described the pair as Americans. Accounts from some of the workers at the landfill suggested that the two people were oblivious to the significance of what they were doing. They made no attempt to hide the books, instead appearing to be routinely carrying out their duties. "When we saw these soldiers burning books, we moved closer to see what was going on, and one of the boys said, "It is Holy Koran," " said one of the laborers, Zabiullah, 22. And we attacked them with our yellow helmets, and tried to stop them. We rushed towards them, and we threw our helmets at the vehicles. Abdul Wahid, 25, another of the laborers, said he and two friends had shouted at the two people: "Don't burn our holy book! We will give it to our mullahs! The two NATO personnel drew back, but two bags of books they had already thrown into the pit had begun to burn. Sharifullah Sahak and Jawad Sukhanyar contributed reporting.