NINE people were killed when shooting broke out during a mass demonstration in a provincial Afghan town over the alleged burning of a Koran by foreign troops, police said today.

The violence erupted yesterday in the Garmsir district of the southern province of Helmand over rumours that NATO-led forces had defiled a copy of the Muslim holy book during a military operation, local residents and police said.

"Eight protesters were killed when the protesters attacked national security officials in Garmsir,'' deputy provincial police chief Khamal Dinkhan said.

The shooting of the protesters occurred after an Afghan national guardsman was killed by gunfire "from the demonstrators' side'', he said.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said yesterday that its troops had shot dead an "insurgent sniper'' who had shot an Afghan official in the Garmsir area.

But a spokesman for the force said there was no information to back up claims of civilian deaths in the incident, adding that investigations with Afghan security officials were under way.

A doctor at the emergency hospital in the provincial capital Lashkar Gah, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that more than 10 people had been brought in "with gunshot wounds to the stomach, head and legs''.

"Two of them are in serious condition,'' he said.

The incident occurred when more than 1000 Afghan villagers gathered in Garmsir to protest over the alleged burning of a Koran during a NATO operation on Monday, local residents and police said.

"During today's protest an insurgent sniper shot an Afghan official who was within FOB (Forward Operating Base) Delhi in Garmsir district,'' ISAF said.

"ISAF service members identified the insurgent sniper, shot and killed him. There were no other injuries or shots fired,'' it said.

