http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaki ... 5917634047

THOUSANDS of rock-pelting Afghans have assaulted a NATO military outpost as fury builds across the Muslim world against a US pastor's threats to burn the Koran on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

In a turbulent start to the festival of Eid al-Fitr, when Muslims worldwide mark the end of the Ramadan fasting month, thousands of protesters have thrown rocks at a small NATO-run base in the remote town of Fayzabad, capital of Badakhshan province in northeast Afghanistan, after traditional prayers.

"They numbered in their thousands, it is a big crowd," provincial deputy police chief Sayed Hassan Jafary said.

"People almost from all city mosques gathered," he said, adding that the crowd chanted "death to America" and threw rocks at the German-run military base in the city.

The crowd demanded authorities give them an American flag "so they can burn it and end the demonstrations", Mr Jafary said. "But we don't have an American flag."

Leaders of countries including Afghanistan and Indonesia have issued dire warnings against the provocative act.

Radical Florida evangelist Terry Jones has issued a heavily conditioned offer to call off his event, which he had planned for Saturday's ninth anniversary of the September 11 attacks in protest at the "evil of Islam".

"We have heard that in the US, a pastor has decided to insult Korans. Now although we have heard that they are not doing this, we tell them they should not even think of it," Afghan President Hamid Karzai said.

"By burning the Koran they cannot harm it. The Koran is in the hearts and minds of one-and-a-half billion people. (But) insulting the Koran is an insult to nations."

The commander of US-led forces in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, the UN mission in Afghanistan and leading aid organisations have all said the burning will endanger the lives of Afghans and foreigners if it goes ahead.

Unrest

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono lashed out against Mr Jones and his tiny evangelical denomination, located in Gainesville, Florida, a day after calling on US President Barack Obama to intervene.

"This threatens peace and international security. This is something that endangers harmony among religious people," Mr Yudhoyono said in a nationally televised address marking the end of Ramadan.

"I'm of course aware of the reported cancellation of the deplorable act by Terry Jones. However, none of us can be complacent until such a despicable idea is totally extinguished."

The governments of Pakistan and India, which after Indonesia have the world's biggest Muslim populations, have also spoken out.

Najib Razak, prime minister of Muslim-majority Malaysia, warned the fraught relationship between the Muslim and non-Muslim worlds would enter "a very dangerous chapter" if the burning goes ahead.

"I hope the pastor will have a change of heart because by that single act of abhorrence ... it will ignite the feelings of Muslims throughout the world, the consequences of which I fear would be very, very costly," he said.