Three people died after shooting broke out at a protest north of Kabul Monday against the detention of an alleged insurgent by foreign and Afghan forces, officials said.
About 3,000 people rallied in Charikar, the capital of Parwan province about 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of the capital, after the arrest of three men by NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and Afghan forces.
As well as the deaths, a total of 25 people were also injured in the rally.
Two of those detained on Sunday were later released, but one is still being held, triggering the protests, ISAF spokesman Major Tim James confirmed.
Mohammad Qasim Sayed, the provincial public health director, said three men who were shot had died and about 25 others were injured.
Fifteen of the wounded were suffering from bullet wounds and the others were stabbed or hurt by stones, he said.
Interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary told AFP that some 3,000 people took part in the demonstration.
Charikar is in one of the safer regions in Afghanistan, close to the giant Bagram Airfield, one of the biggest military bases for Western troops in the war-torn country.
There are around 130,000 international troops in Afghanistan fighting a Taliban-led insurgency alongside Afghan government forces.
Afghanistan has seen a wave of protests recently against the burning of the Koran by a US pastor which lead to deaths including those of seven United Nations workers in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif.
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