Preacher calls off Koran burning plans

Reuters

KORAN BURNING: President Obama called Florida pastor Terry Jones' plans to burn Korans as a "recruitment bonanza for al Qaeda".

STANDING FIRM: US pastor Terry Jones threatened to burn Korans.

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An obscure US Christian pastor has called off his plan to burn copies of the Koran this weekend, saying he had obtained a deal that involved moving the planned location of an Islamic cultural centre and mosque in New York.

His comments came soon after US President Barack Obama has warned that the plan to burn the Koran could provoke al Qaeda suicide bombings, as international pressure mounted on Washington to step in.

Terry Jones, who heads the tiny, little-known Dove World Outreach Centre church based in Gainesville, Florida, told reporters an Islamic leader in New York had agreed to shift the planned site of the Muslim centre and mosque there away from near the Ground Zero location of the Sept. 11 2001 attacks.

"The imam has agreed to move the mosque, we have agreed to cancel our event on Saturday," Jones told reporters outside his church. He was accompanied by imam Muhammad Musri, head of the Islamic Society of Central Florida.

But in New York, sources close to New York imam Feisal Abdul Rauf said there was no agreement to move the site of the proposed Muslim cultural centre in the city.

The planned location of the project has been opposed by many who have said it is insensitive to families of the victims of the 2001 attacks by the militant Islamist group al Qaeda.

"I, with the imam (Musri), will be flying up there (New York) on Saturday to meet the imam (Feisal Abdul Rauf) at the Ground Zero mosque," Jones said.

The Koran-burning planned for Saturday on the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the United States triggered worldwide condemnation and outrage, protests in some Muslim countries and warnings that Americans abroad could face violent retaliation.

"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

The international police agency Interpol warned governments worldwide of an increased risk of terrorist attacks if the planned burning went ahead. The FBI already has advised of possible retaliatory attacks on US facilities abroad.

Earlier, church officials said they have 200 copies of the Koran and Jones says Jesus would approve of his plan for "Burn a Koran Day," which he calls a reprisal for Islamist terrorism.

But many people, both conservative and liberal, have dismissed it as an attention-seeking stunt by the preacher, who is author of a book titled "Islam Is of the Devil."

Jones had told USA Today he had not been contacted by the White House. If he were, "that would cause us to definitely think it over. That's what we're doing now. I don't think a call from them is something we would ignore."

There was no immediate comment from the White House. It is not clear if it had contacted Jones.

The United States has powerful legal protections for the right to free speech and there is little law enforcement authorities can do to stop Jones from going ahead, other than citing him under local bylaws against public burning.

"The bottom line is that if there are no laws broken (so far) we cannot prevent the action," Bob Woods, spokesman for the Gainesville mayor's office, told Reuters this week.

- AP, Reuters