KABUL Afghan President Hamid Karzai appealed for calm Wednesday after officials said six people were shot dead and dozens wounded in protests over the burning of copies of the Koran, Islam's holy book, at NATO's main base in the country. 
 
 The U.S. embassy said its staff were in "lockdown" and travel had been suspended as thousands of people expressed fury over the burning, in protests that flared for a second day in several cities. 
 
 It was a public relations disaster for U.S.-led NATO forces fighting Taliban militants ahead of the withdrawal of foreign combat troops by the end of 2014. 
 
 The U.S. government and the American commander of NATO-led forces in Afghanistan apologized after Afghan laborers found charred copies of the Koran while collecting rubbish at the sprawling Bagram Airbase, about an hour's drive north of Kabul. 
 
 The apologies failed to contain the anger. Afghans took to the streets again, chanting anti-American slogans and some raising white Taliban flags in the capital. 
 
 Karzai urged security forces to try to protect civilian lives and property. 
 
 "Protests are the right of people but I ask my countrymen to avoid violence," he said in a statement, urging people to wait for the outcome of investigations into the burnings. 
 
 Winning the hearts and minds of Afghans is critical to efforts to defeat the Taliban. Similar incidents in the past have caused deep divisions and resentment among Afghans toward the tens of thousands of foreign troops in their country. 
 
 Seven foreign UN workers were killed during protests that raged across Afghanistan for three days in April 2011 after a U.S. pastor burned a Koran in Florida. 
 
 A senior Afghan security official, citing reports from police, told Reuters that Western security contractors working at a U.S. military camp in Kabul opened fire on protesters and wounded several. 
 
 Witness Rahimullah, 17, said his brother, Ghafar, 23, was shot by one of the contractors in the right leg when he was throwing stones during the demonstration. 
 
 The Afghan Interior Ministry said it had ordered an investigation into the shooting. 
 
 "As a result of shooting at protesters by foreign guards at Camp Phoenix, one person was killed and 10 others were wounded," the ministry said in an emailed statement. 
 
 Later, wounded protesters along the busy Jalalabad road on the fringe of Kabul said Afghan police had fired on them. 
 
 CULTURAL SENSITIVITIES 
 
 Twenty-one people, including 11 policemen, were wounded in the capital, said Mohammad Zahir, head of Kabul police's crimes unit. They included the city police chief, Ayoub Salangi, who was hit in the ankle by a stone. 
 
 In Parwan province, home to Bagram, four people were shot dead by Afghan police and 10 were wounded while attacking offices, provincial officials and the interior ministry said. 
 
 A protester was shot dead by police in Logar province, east of the capital, the governor's spokesman said. Hundreds protested in front of the governor's office. Some threw stones. 
 
 Critics say Western troops often fail to grasp the country's religious and cultural sensitivities. Muslims consider the Koran the literal word of God and treat each book with deep reverence. 
 
 Demonstrations by as many as 2,000 people broke out as word of the Bagram find spread. 
 
 Police said most injuries were caused by flying stones and sticks hurled by protesters. Demonstrators had charged police lines and nearby military bases at a protest on the edge of Kabul, burning tires and smashing vehicles and building windows. 
 
 Protesters shouted "Death to America!" and "Death to Karzai" as black smoke rose over a large demonstration on the outskirts of the snowy Afghan capital. 
 
 "When the Americans insult us to this degree, we will join the insurgents," said Ajmal, an 18-year-old protester in Kabul. 
 
 Demonstrators set fire to part of a housing compound used by foreign contract workers. A Reuters witness said the fire damaged part of a guesthouse at the Green Village complex, where 1,500 mostly foreign contractors live and work. 
 
 Outrage also spilled over in the Afghan parliament, where several members shouted "Death to America" inside the legislative chamber. 
 
 The protests spread to several cities. 
 
 In Jalalabad, to the east, some protesters burned U.S. flags and also shouted "Death to America." Others set ablaze fuel tankers near the city's airport. 
 
 Demonstrators praised the leader of the Afghan Taliban, the secretive Mullah Mohammad Omar, screaming "Long live Mullah Omar!," Reuters witnesses said. Five people were wounded, the governor's spokesman said. 
 
 In neighboring Pakistan's largest city Karachi, around 100 Islamic seminary students protested against the Koran burnings. 
 
 "Pakistan's government should summon the American ambassador and demand an apology. And if he doesn't apologize, he should be kicked out of the country," said Abdul Basit, a protest leader. 
 
 Others took a harder line. 
 
 "No forgiveness for the desecrators of the Koran," a section of the crowd shouted. "Only death." 
 
 (Additional reporting by Amie Ferris-Rotman in KABUL and Imtiaz Shah in KARACHI; Writing by Rob Taylor; Editing by Michael Georgy and Ron Popeski) ||||| KABUL (Reuters) – Police fired into the air to disperse thousands of anti-American protesters in Afghanistan's capital Wednesday, witnesses and police said, with one person killed and at least five wounded. 
 
 Demonstrators chanted "Death to America," "Death to Christians," and "Death to Karzai," the latter referring to Afghan President Hamid Karzai, in the biggest protests since unrest erupted last week over plans by a U.S. pastor to burn the Koran. 
 
 "There are more than 10,000 of the demonstrators and some of them are waving the Taliban flag," police officer Mohammad Usman. 
 
 The protests come three days before a parliamentary election which the Taliban have vowed to disrupt. The election is a key test of stability in Afghanistan before U.S. President Barack Obama conducts a war strategy review in December. 
 
 They follow three days of protests at the weekend over plans by an obscure U.S. pastor, which he later abandoned, to burn copies of the Koran to mark the anniversary of the September 11, 2001, hijacked airliner attacks on the United States. 
 
 Three people were killed in those protests. Observers including the top U.N. diplomat in Afghanistan had warned the Taliban may try to exploit the Koran-burning protests. 
 
 A police source later said one person had been killed and five wounded, and that the toll could rise. The protests were the Reuters television pictures showed protesters waving large white flags, the symbol used by Taliban supporters. 
 
 A spokesman for the Taliban, Zabihullah Mujahid, said the hardline Islamist group was aware of the protests but had no role in them. 
 
 "People may have raised the Taliban flags to show their sentiment and sympathy for the Taliban," Mujahid told Reuters from an undisclosed location. 
 
 At the Pul-e-Kandahari, or Kandahar bridge in Kabul, police were ordered to advance toward one group of hundreds of protesters who were throwing stones and shouting "Death to American slaves" at police. 
 
 Police were seen firing into the air and dragging away several protesters. At one point, volleys of gunfire could be heard. The protesters scattered, some sheltering in nearby houses in the mainly ethnic Pashtun and Tajik area of Kabul. 
 
 The protesters earlier gathered in the west of the capital, burning tires and blocking a main highway link to the south. Thick black smoke rose above the area and police kept journalists several hundred meters back. 
 
 Reuters witnesses at the scene saw two unconscious people, covered in blood, being carried away suffering what appeared to be gunshot wounds. 
 
 (Additional reporting by Sayed Salahuddin; Editing by Paul Tait and Sanjeev Miglani)
– Afghan police today fired into a crowd of rock-hurling anti-American demonstrators chanting "Death to America," "Death to Christians," and "Death to Karzai" in Kabul today. One was killed and at least five injured, two from gunshots. The US Koran-burning controversy has stirred days of outrage and protests among millions of Muslims and others worldwide, notes the AP; today's protests were the largest so far, Reuters adds. Afghan police say the Taliban are using this anger to fuel anti-government sentiment ahead of elections next week. "There are more than 10,000 of the demonstrators and some of them are waving the Taliban flag," says one officer.