A Taliban suicide car bomber targeting a NATO base at Jalalabad airport in eastern Afghanistan has killed nine people, following days of deadly anti-US protests over the burning of the Koran.
Six civilians, an Afghan soldier and two local guards were killed, police said. There were no reports of NATO casualties, according to a spokesman for the US-led International Security Assistance Force.
Taliban insurgents claimed responsibility for the blast, saying it was in revenge for the burning of Korans at a US military base.
Around 40 people have now died in six days of violent protests across the country.
"The foreign forces have insulted our religion and this attack was revenge," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said.
On Sunday, seven US soldiers were wounded in a grenade attack during an anti-US demonstration at their base in northern Kunduz province, police said.
On Saturday, two US advisers were shot dead in the interior ministry in Kabul just days after two US troops died as an Afghan soldier turned his weapon on them as thousands of demonstrators approached their base in the east.
The US embassy has been in lockdown since the violence erupted, and has warned of a "heightened potential threat to American citizens in Afghanistan".
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said yesterday that the deadly protests in Afghanistan over the burning of Korans by US soldiers "must stop".
President Hamid Karzai condemned "with the strongest words" the treatment of Islam's holy book, but told his countrymen: "Now that we have shown our feelings it is time to be calm and peaceful."
