Reuters | Breaking News from Around the Globe

Reuters | Breaking News from Around the Globe: "They trampled on the holy Koran, beat up some of the worshippers and stole computers and a donations box,' he said. Others claimed that a page was torn from the Koran.

Protesters screamed and cried, chanting: 'God is great' and 'America is the enemy of God'.

Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, a U.S. military spokesman, said U.S. troops had conducted the operation after a tip off from Iraqis and netted a wide array of weaponry to be used against occupying forces facing a relentless insurgency.

'Over recent months, the U.S. 1st Armored Division has received numerous reports from Iraqis that the al-Tabool mosque was being used for criminal and terrorist activities,' Kimmitt told a news conference on Friday.

'U.S. forces, led by the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps and the Iraqi police therefore conducted a cordon and search.'

He said troops had found several sticks of high explosives, hand grenades, AK-47 rifles, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and thousands of rounds of ammunition.

'There is clear evidence from what we seized that this mosque was being used for things other than free religious expression,' Kimmitt said."