Iraq's interim government on Saturday ordered Qatar-based al-Jazeera Satellite TV channel to close its office in Baghdad for one month.

"We have asked an independent committee to monitor Al-Jazeera for the last four weeks ... to see what kind of violence, hatred, problems and racial tensions they have advocated," Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said at a Baghdad news conference.

"This is a decision taken by the national security committee to protect the people of Iraq, in the interests of the Iraqi people," Allawi added.

Meanwhile, al-Jazeera's spokesman Jihad Ballout reportedly said that it was a regrettable decision, but the channel would continue to try to cover the situation in Iraq.

The Iraqi move came after a report on US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld accusing Al-Jazeera and another main Arab news channel Al-Arabiya of harming the image of the United States in the Arab world.

Earlier this month, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari criticised Al-Jazeera, the Saudi-funded Al-Arabiya and other Arab and Iranian stations for their coverage of Iraq and threatened to close their Baghdad offices.

(Xinhua News Agency August 8, 2004)