Afghan officials said at least eight people have been killed at a UN operational centre in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif when protest against the burning of the Quran turned violent.
Demonstrators stormed the UN office Friday, opening fire on guards and setting fires inside the compound after reports that a evangelical pastor burned a copy of the Muslim holy book in Florida last month.
Two of those killed were beheaded by the protesters, according to police.
Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra reported from Kabul that people converged outside the UN mission soon after the midday prayers.
The mission is one of the backbones of UN operations in the country, he said. Some of the protesters were armed with knives, and the chief of the mission was badly injured in the attack.
"The protests degenerated into a very violent attack," he explained.
Daud Daud, the commander of Afghan National Police in the north, said five guards working for the UN were among the dead, along with two other people employed at the complex.
He said one other person was wounded. A police official in Balkh province, later said the injured person, who was a foreigner, had also died.
A UN spokesperson confirmed the deaths on Friday.
"The special representative to the [UN] Secretary General, Stephane de Mastura, is on his way to Mazar-i-Sharif now to deal with the situation personally on the ground," the spokesperson said.
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