Afghans dump books seen as insulting

"It is a humiliation for all Shi'ites," said Mohammad Akbari, a prominent Shi'ite member of parliament. He said a joint commission of Sunni and Shi'ite leaders should have reviewed any complaints about the books.

Merchants who had ordered the books said there was nothing offensive about their content and that they were destroyed simply because of prejudice against Shi'ites, who make up about 20 percent of the population.

The dispute highlights the continuing tension between Sunnis and Shi'ites in Afghanistan despite efforts by the government to preach tolerance across the sectarian divide.

Shi'ites were persecuted under the largely Sunni Taliban regime that ruled the country until the US-led invasion in 2001.

Since then, the two sects have settled into an uneasy coexistence, with the post-Taliban constitution giving Shiites the right to create some laws that apply only to them.

The latest episode started six months ago when a container full of books arrived in western Nimroz province from neighboring Iran, said the governor's spokesman, Haaji Nazir.

Nestled among boxes of computer and English instruction manuals were more than 1,000 history and religious books promoting Shi'ite Islam, Nazir said. Iran is a mostly Shi'ite country.

"Books like these are more dangerous than Taliban bullets," Governor Ghulam Dastagir Azad told The Associated Press.