Protests against a U.S. Koran burning have resumed in the Afghan city of Kandahar,

Protests against a U.S. Koran burning have resumed in the Afghan city of Kandahar, a day after 10 people were killed during similar demonstrations in the southern city.

Hundreds of people, mainly young men, have gathered on the streets in Kandahar, chanting "Death to the U.S." and "Death to Karzai." A spokesman for the provincial administration, Zalmai Ayoubi, said the protests so far were peaceful.

Afghan officials said large demonstrations were also reported in the eastern city of Jalalabad.

The Taliban militia has issued a statement calling for Afghans to continue protests and saying government forces are to blame for any violence.

Some 20 people have been killed in the past two days in Afghanistan as public anger has mounted over the burning of Islam's holy book. The dead include seven foreign UN workers killed on April 1 in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e Sharif.

In a statement, U.S. President Barack Obama denounced both the desecration of the Koran and the Afghan violence that has spread in its wake.

Obama said killing innocent people in response to the burning of the Koran was "outrageous." The statement added that "no religion tolerates the slaughter and beheading of innocent people, and there is no justification for such a dishonorable and deplorable act."

The extremist Christian preacher Terry Jones, who supervised the burning of a Koran in March at his church in Florida, has blamed Islam and the religion's militant followers for causing the deadly violence.