Afghan leader calls on US Congress to condemn Koran burning, Posted by Meosha Eaton

KABUL, April 3 (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai called on Sunday for the U.S. Congress to condemn the burning of a Koran by a radical fundamentalist U.S. pastor and prevent it from happening again, his office said in a statement.

Karzai made the request at a meeting with U.S. ambassador Karl Eikenberry and General David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, the statement said.

Eikenberry read to Karzai from U.S. President Barack Obama's earlier condemnation of the Koran burning, the statement said, but did not include any response from the Afghan leader. (Reporting by Hamid Shalizi, writing by Emma Graham-Harrison)

Obama calls killings in Afghanistan outrageous, Posted by Meosha Eaton

WASHINGTON, April 2 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama on Saturday described as "outrageous" the killings in Afghanistan triggered after the burning of a Koran by a radical fundamentalist Christian preacher in the United States.

"The desecration of any holy text, including the Koran, is an act of extreme intolerance and bigotry," Obama said in a statement released by the White House.

"However, to attack and kill innocent people in response is outrageous, and an affront to human decency and dignity," he said.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Editing by Will Dunham)