BAGHDAD -- Protesters angered by an Iraqi man in Sweden who threatened to burn a copy of the Koran stormed the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad early Thursday, overrunning the diplomatic compound and starting a fire.
Hours later, Iraq's prime minister cut diplomatic ties with Sweden in protest over the desecration of the Islamic holy book.
Protesters occupied the diplomatic post for several hours, waving flags and signs showing the influential Iraqi Shiite cleric and political leader Muqtada al-Sadr, and setting a small fire. The embassy staff had been evacuated a day earlier.
The attack came ahead of a protest by an Iraqi asylum-seeker who burned a copy of the Koran during a demonstration last month in Stockholm. He threatened to do the same thing again but ultimately stopped short of setting fire to the book.
After protesters left the Swedish Embassy, diplomats closed it to visitors without specifying when it would reopen.
Following a meeting with security officials, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said in a statement that Iraqi authorities would prosecute those responsible for starting the fire and referred to an investigation of "negligent security officials."
However, the statement also said that the Iraqi government had informed Sweden on Wednesday that Iraq would cut off diplomatic relations should the Koran burning go forward.
Sudani soon announced the expulsion of the Swedish ambassador from Iraq and the withdrawal of the Iraqi charge d'affaires from Sweden.
The announcement followed an anti-Islam protest by two men on a lawn about 300 feet from the Iraqi Embassy in Stockholm. One of them was identified by Swedish media as Salwan Momika, an Iraqi of Christian origin who lives in Sweden as a self-identified atheist. He stepped on and kicked the Koran but did not set it aflame.
Momika also stepped on and kicked an Iraqi flag, as well as photographs of al-Sadr and of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
About 50 people, including journalists and a handful of counter-demonstrators chanting religious slogans, watched the demonstration from behind police barricades.
After the protest and Sudani's announcement, the head of Iraq's Media and Communications Commission said the agency had suspended the license of Swedish communications company Ericsson to operate in Iraq. The Ministry of Communications said it would sever its dealings with Swedish companies.
Before the protest in Stockholm, dozens of men climbed over the fence at the complex containing the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad. Video footage showed men trying to break down a door, setting a fire and standing, some shirtless in the summer heat, inside what appeared to be a room at the embassy, with an alarm sounding in the background.
Others later performed pre-dawn prayers outside the embassy.
As dawn broke, police and other security officials gathered at the embassy as firefighters tried to douse the flames. Some demonstrators remained at the site, apparently left alone by police.
An Associated Press photographer and two Reuters staff members were arrested while covering the protest and released several hours later without charges.
The Swedish Foreign Ministry said its staffers were safe and that attacks on embassies and diplomats violate the Vienna Convention. "Iraqi authorities have the responsibility to protect diplomatic missions and diplomatic staff," a statement said.
Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström said the ministry would summon Iraq's charge d'affaires in Stockholm.
The Finnish Embassy in Baghdad is adjacent to the Swedish Embassy in an area enclosed by blast walls. Finland's ambassador to Iraq, Matti Lassila, told Finnish public broadcaster YLE that the staffs of both embassies were evacuated Wednesday.
Iraq's Foreign Ministry also issued a statement condemning the attack and promising to hold the perpetrators accountable, without explaining how the breach happened or identifying who carried out the assault.
Information for this article was contributed by Jon Gambrell, Karl Ritter, Jari Tanner, Abdulrahman Zeyad and Qassim Abdul-Zahra of The Associated Press.
Iraqis throw stones during clashes with security forces in front of the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad. The protest was in response to the burning of the Koran in Sweden. (AP/Hadi Mizban)