The original statue depicted Abdul Ali Mazari, a leader of the mostly Shiite minority killed while he was a prisoner of the Taliban during their first stint in power, AFP news agency reported.

The statue was decapitated by a rocket-propelled grenade soon after the Taliban returned to power in mid-August, in an incident residents of the city in central Afghanistan blamed on the hardline Islamists, the news agency reported.

Interestingly, the Taliban,who strictly follow Islam with their interpretation, forbids the human form to be depicted in paintings and sculpture.

"Yesterday, they completely removed the statue and replaced it with a replica of the Koran," Abdul Danishyar, a civil society activist in Bamiyan, told AFP.

"They are trying to wipe out the history from Bamiyan, the people are going to react violently to this," he said.

The square, named after Mazari, has been renamed as "military street", Danishyar said.

Abdul Ali Shafaq, a Bamiyan provincial council member, told AFP he would talk to Taliban officials and urge them to reverse the move.

"This is a very sensitive issue, it might trigger reactions," he said.

Mazari, who was an anti-Taliban leader, was killed in 1995 after being taken as a prisoner by the Taliban.

Huma rights activist Saleem Javed tweeted: "Taliban had blown up the statue of slain #Hazara leader Abdul Ali Mazari in Bimiyan, not unlike Budda statues. Now replaced with statue of holy Quran (so that none can criticize). Taliban systematically erases everything which has the Hazara label, culturally or historically."