WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama said on Friday the burning of the Holy Quran on US soil could deeply harm the United States abroad and he hoped a Florida pastor would drop a plan to do this. "This is a way of endangering our troops, our sons and daughters .... you don't play games with that," he told a news conference in Washington. "It is in the age of the Internet something that can cause us profound damage around the world, so we have to take it seriously," Obama added. Pastor Terry Jones of the tiny, little-known Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida has backed off a threat to burn copies of the Holy Quran on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on Saturday, which sparked anger in the Muslim world. But he has still not completely ruled it out. Thousands of people took to the streets across Afghanistan on Friday, some threatening to attack US bases. One protester was shot dead and several were wounded outside a German-run Nato base in northeast Afghanistan. Demonstrations later spread to the capital, Kabul, and at least four other provinces. Obama was responding to a question from a reporter about a direct phoned appeal made on Thursday by US Defense Secretary Robert Gates to Jones asking him not to go ahead with the burning plan. "My hope is that this individual prays on it and refrains from it (burning the Korans)," the president said. Jones has said he will not proceed with the planned event on Saturday if he can meet in New York with Muslim leaders seeking to build an Islamic center and mosque near the site of the Sept. 11 attacks. Opponents of the building plan say it is insensitive to the families of the victims of the 2001 attacks. The Florida pastor, who said Jesus would approve of his plan for "Burn a Koran Day" as a reprisal for terrorism, has said he will fly to New York later on Friday. comments please!!!