A protest against the Quran desecration incident which happened in Iraq was organized outside a NATO base on Thursday in Afghanistan. The protest turned violent and three people were killed in the process. A NATO soldier and two civilians were killed according a spokesman for the alliance's military in Kabul said.

According to Ghor provincial police chief Shah Jahan Noori, nearly 1,000 Muslims had gathered to protest the Quran shooting.

"Among these people were rebels who opened fire," Noori said.

The protests occurred at the Chaghcharan Airfield in Ghor province and seven civilians and an ISAF soldier were wounded in the brawl, CNN reported quoting Maj. Martin O'Donnell, spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

According to initial reports, the civilians were killed when the Afghan National Police opened fire on the protesters after they turned violent and threw rocks and set the tents inside an airfield in western Ghor province on fire.

O'Donnell condemned the violence, but said that the military took control of the situation.

"While ISAF encourages the freedom of the people of Afghanistan to hold a peaceful demonstration under their democracy, violent demonstrations have no place in Afghanistan and they cause tragedies," he said.

The desecration of the Quran by a U.S. soldier who used Islam’s holly book as a target practice angered the Muslims in Iraq and all over the world. Apologies were issued by U.S. President George Bush and by the U.S. military.