Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Saturday voiced sympathy for the deaths of seven UN staff in an attack on their office during anti-US protests

Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Saturday voiced sympathy for the deaths of seven UN staff in an attack on their office during anti-US protests, his office said.
  
Karzai telephoned UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to give his condolences over the incident, it said. Seven UN foreign staff -- three Europeans and and four Nepalese guards -- were killed on Friday when an angry mob attacked the United Nation's headquarters in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif following the burning of holy Quran book in the US.
  
Karzai described the attack as "ruthless" and said his administration "is committed to launching an all-out probe into the incident and bringing to justice those responsible", the statement from his office said.
  
The president called on Ban to "play his role in raising public awareness on the significance of resorting to non-violence and non-desecration of faith... particularly in countries where such sacrilegious practices were carried out", it said, in an apparent reference to the US.
  
The burning of the Quran by evangelical preacher Pastor Wayne Sapp in a Florida church last month has sparked angry protests in Islamic countries.