PRESIDENT Barack Obama warned that an obscure US Christian pastor’s plan to burn the Koran tomorrow to mark September 11 could provoke al-Qaida suicide bombings, as Asian countries urged Washington to prevent the act.

US President Barack Obama today urged a Florida pastor to “listen to those better angels” and call off his plan to engage in a Koran-burning protest this weekend.

Anger was growing in Muslim countries as the leader of a small Florida church insisted he would not back down on plans to burn copies of the Koran on September 11.