Pakistan cartoon violence spreads

Police fired teargas after protesters set fire to a KFC outlet in Peshawar

Three more people have died in Pakistan in continuing violence over the publication in the West of cartoons satirising the Prophet Muhammad.

In the city of Peshawar, two people died as protesters targeted anything linked to foreign firms, but local businesses also suffered.

In Lahore, one person died when police clashed with Islamic students. Two people died in Lahore on Tuesday.

Islamic tradition explicitly prohibits any depiction of Allah and the Prophet.

We will not ban rallies against sacrilegious cartoons but protesters must remain peaceful NWFP Chief Minister Akram Durrani Hidden motives behind riots

The cartoons, first published by Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in September, have angered Muslims worldwide.

The images that have since been reprinted by several other European publications include one portraying Muhammad with a bomb in his turban.

In other developments:

• Hundreds of Muslims burn Danish flags outside the Danish consulate in the Philippines capital, Manila

• Indonesia's trade association says it will boycott Danish goods as a mark of protest

• Malaysia shuts down a Chinese-language newspaper for two weeks for publishing a photograph that contained one of the cartoons

• In Jordan, prosecutors release on bail two editors charged with blasphemy and defamation for republishing the cartoons

• The European Parliament debates the cartoon controversy, confirming strong support for Denmark and opposition to violent protests. European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso strongly condemns violence against EU offices and missions abroad over the cartoons.

Ban defied

Thousands of supporters of hardline Islamic groups marched up to the main business district in Peshawar, the capital of North-West Frontier Province, and attacked shops and businesses.

CARTOON ROW 30 Sept 2005: Danish paper publishes cartoons 20 Oct: Muslim ambassadors complain to Danish PM 10 Jan 2006: Norwegian publication reprints cartoons 26 Jan: Saudi Arabia recalls its ambassador 31 Jan: Danish paper apologises 1 Feb: Papers in France, Germany, Italy and Spain reprint cartoons 4-5 Feb: Danish embassies in Damascus and Beirut attacked 6-12 Feb: Twelve killed in Afghanistan as security forces try to suppress protests 13-15 Feb: Violent protests break out across Pakistan In pictures: Cartoon violence Timeline of the row How can row be resolved?

Police used teargas and then opened fire to break up the protest after the mob set fire to a KFC fast food outlet and ransacked it.

Eyewitnesses say some of the protesters opened fire as well.

An eight-year-old boy was killed by a stray bullet, while another person died when a power transmission line fell on protesters.

The office of a Norwegian mobile phone company was also attacked.

The provincial chief minister urged people to remain calm.

"We will not ban rallies against sacrilegious cartoons but protesters must remain peaceful," Chief Minister Akram Durrani is quoted as saying by AFP.

Protests 'spreading'

However, elsewhere in North-West Frontier Province, violence broke out in the town of Tank, near the Iranian border.

A policeman was injured when some protesters opened fire indiscriminately.

The province is governed by an alliance of six Islamic parties, the MMA. A senior provincial minister, Sirajul Haq, said the wave of protest was a spontaneous reaction of the Pakistani Muslims over the cartoon issue.

He also said President Pervez Musharraf's central government had failed to take a strong position against the publication of the cartoons, forcing people to show their anger on the streets.

Gen Musharraf condemned the cartoons nearly two weeks ago.

In Punjab province, hundreds of Islamic students took to the streets of the eastern city of Lahore despite a ban on public protests.

Security has been increased in the diplomatic district in the capital after dozens of protesting students managed to break through a security ring on Tuesday and tried to attack foreign embassies.