KABUL, Afghanistan: Arab and Muslim world from Indonesia to Gaza witnessed angry protests over reported desecration of Holy Quran by American interrogators at the US detention facility at Guantanamo Bay.

Protests in Palestine, Egypt, Sudan and Indonesia followed demonstrations across Pakistan and much of Afghanistan in the past few days.

Saudia Arabia, Iraq and Syria have registered displeasure at the desecration.

The spreading anger comes after the Newsweek magazine reported in its May 9 edition that interrogators at the US military prison in Cuba "had placed Korans on toilets, and in at least one case flushed a holy book down the toilet."

In Afghanistan, at least nine people were killed on Friday, in protests over the report bringing the country's death toll to 16 this week in its worst anti-American demonstrations since the fall of the Taliban. About 100 people have been injured there in days of protests, and police stations, UN and aid group offices and government premises have been ransacked and torched.

The unrest spread to Pakistan, which called for a US probe. Hundreds of people held a peaceful protest in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation.

In Gaza, several thousand Palestinians marched through the Jabalya refugee camp in a protest torching US and Israeli flags. Several hundred Palestinians also marched in the West Bank city of Hebron.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said, "We want Muslims around the world to know that we share and understand the concerns that they have. We are also saddened about the loss of life because of these demonstrations turning violent."

The Department of Defense is investigating the allegation and "they take such allegations very seriously," he said, but did indicate when the investigation would be completed. "...We will not tolerate any disrespect for the holy Quran," he added.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had also urged Muslims on Thursday to resist calls for violence, saying US military authorities were investigating the allegations and calling disrespect to the holy book "abhorrent to us all."

The United States' reputation had already been damaged by photographs released last year of abuse of Muslim prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

Washington's allies demanded action and an investigation. Indonesia said those responsible must receive a "deserved punishment" for their "immoral action." Pakistan also called for a US probe, and Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, said it was following the issue with "deep indignation."

The lower house of Pakistani parliament in a unanimous resolution on Friday condemned the "shameful act" of desecration and demanded an inquiry by the United States to bring the perpetrators to justice.

"The reported act of sacrilege has shocked the people of every faith all around the world," the resolution signed by both the treasury and the opposition members said.

"(Riyadh) calls on the competent authorities to implement a swift enquiry into the cases," a Saudi Foreign Ministry source said. "If the cases turn out to be true, the Saudi government underlines the necessity of taking dissuasive measures... against those responsible (for the desecration) to prevent its repetition and to respect Muslims' feelings around the world."

Sentiments ran higher in the streets.

Egypt's opposition also condemned the reports and said Arab leaders share the blame.

"The Muslim Brotherhood has been shaken by news of the desecration of the Quran by American interrogators at Guantanamo," the movement's leader Muhammad Mahdi Akef said. The group "expresses its extreme anger, firmly condemns and deplores this odious and humiliating act, and calls on the American government to publicly apologize".

Calling for the toughest punishment to be meted out on the perpetrators, the Brotherhood blamed regional weakness for the reported desecration.

London-based daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi said in its editorial that "the Arab world is totally submissive to the United States".

"Authorities, clerics and official media only react once they have the green light from Washington. From now on, the Arabs are like a corpse. They will not react, even if Mecca is occupied," the editorial said.

The director of the London-based Islamic Observatory, a self-proclaimed defender of Muslim rights around the world, poured scorn on Arab leaders.