Angry Iraqis torch Swedish embassy over second Quran burning in Stockholm

BAGHDAD, July 20 (Xinhua)

Hundreds of Iraqis stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad at dawn Thursday and set fire to the building after a planned burning of the Quran in Sweden.

An Interior Ministry source told Xinhua that the demonstrators climbed the fences of the embassy and entered the building, protesting the latest incident of burning the Quran and the Iraqi flag in front of the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm by the same person who burned the Quran three weeks ago.

Iraqi security forces and fire engines rushed to the Swedish embassy to disperse demonstrators away from the embassy building, and fire engines managed later to put out the fire, the source said.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi foreign ministry condemned the arson, stressing that an investigation will be launched to find out the people who set fire, and hold them accountable according to law.

On June 30, angry protestors stormed the Swedish embassy just outside the heavily-fortified Green Zone in central Baghdad, protesting the act of a Swedish citizen of Iraqi origin, who tore up a copy of the Quran and burned it in front of a mosque in Stockholm on June 28 during a demonstration authorized by the Swedish authorities, which sparked fury from Muslims around the world.