Denmark and Norway have condemned as 'murder' a Pakistani cleric's offer of a reward for anyone who kills any of the 12 Danish cartoonists who drew images of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed.
A Pakistani Muslim cleric and his followers offered rewards amounting to more than $1 million for killing the Danish cartoonists, who have been under police protection since the storm of protest broke out last month.
The Danish Foreign Minister, Per Stig Moeller, said any call to murder people was forbidden by the Koran.
Danish paper Jyllands-Posten first published the cartoons last September, but Danish Muslim leaders brought them to the attention of imams in the Middle East in December and January.
Many newspapers and magazines in Europe and elsewhere have run the cartoons in defence of free speech.
Meanwhile, hundreds of students have protested against the caricatures in the Afghan capital Kabul.
At least 10 people were killed in several days of protests over the cartoons in Afghanistan two weeks ago but the demonstrations had largely subsided since.
