Malaysia's conservative Islamic party PAS said Wednesday it would urge Muslims to protest outside the US embassy if an evangelical church in Florida goes ahead with a Quran-burning ceremony.

The Dove World Outreach Center said its ceremony this Saturday, organised to mark the ninth anniversary of the September 11 attacks by Islamic extremists from Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network, is a warning to radical Muslims.

However, PAS youth chief Nasrudin Hassan Tantawi called the Quran-burning a "desecration and an insult to Islam which cannot go unchallenged."

"What these people are planning to do goes against the tenets of all religions to live in peace and harmony with one another, and will only anger the Muslim ummah (community) around the world," Nasrudin told AFP.

"We are going to send a letter of protest but if they go ahead with the burning, we will have no choice but to take to the streets outside the US embassy to protest against this horrible action," he said.

"This burning does not serve as a warning to radical Muslims but angers all Muslims which surely cannot be what any right-thinking person wants."

Nasrudin said Muslim groups in Malaysia would also seek advice on whether any international legal action could be taken to stop the ceremony.

Since announcing plans for the Quran burning two months ago, the church has created a firestorm of controversy, not only among Muslims but also many local Christians, who view the event as incendiary, bigoted and malevolent and fear that the US will be seen as Islamophobic.

US military commander in Afghanistan General David Petraeus has said recently that the church's actions could have global repercussions and endanger US military personnel serving abroad.

- AFP