Obama condemns burning of the Koran

"This is a recruitment bonanza for al Qaeda," Obama said in an ABC television interview. "You could have serious violence in places like Pakistan or Afghanistan. This could increase the recruitment of individuals who would be willing to blow themselves up in American cities or European cities."

Terry Jones, leader of a Protestant church of about 30 members in Gainesville, Florida, is planning to burn copies of the Islamic holy book Saturday, the ninth anniversary of the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

Jones has said he sees Koran-burning as a way of confronting Islamist terrorism. But his plans have been widely condemned by US religious, political and military leaders, who say it is jeopardizing the security of US military personnel abroad.

Two top US commanders in Afghanistan have said the plan by Jones's Dove World Outreach Centre risked undermining Obama's efforts to reach out to the world's 1.5 billion Muslims. General David Petraeus, commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, said the act could endanger his troops.

The Convocation of American Churches in Europe also said Christians living in majority Muslim countries would be at risk of reprisals.

The World Council of Churches, representing 349 branches of Christianity, added its voice to condemnations of Jones' plans.

Jewish leaders have also condemned the action, saying it recalled the Nazi German burning of books in the 1930s, a prelude to the Holocaust in which 6 million Jews were killed.

Pakistan "urged the international community to discourage this fanatic approach and take steps to stop these fundamentalists," a Foreign Office spokesman said in an Associated Press of Pakistan report.