Protesters storm Swedish embassy in Baghdad over Koran burning

Hundreds of protesters stormed the Swedish embassy in central Baghdad in the early hours of Thursday morning, scaling its walls and setting it on fire in protest against the expected burning of a Koran in Sweden.

All Baghdad embassy staff were safe, the Swedish foreign ministry press office said in a statement.

The assault comes after Swedish police authorized an assembly on Thursday outside the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm, where organizers plan to burn a copy of the Koran as well as the Iraqi flag.