KABUL, Afghanistan – International peacekeepers clashed Tuesday with Afghans protesting cartoon drawings of Islam’s prophet Muhammad, leaving three demonstrators dead and prompting NATO to send reinforcements to a remote northern city.
Senior Afghan officials said al-Qaida and the Taliban could be exploiting anger over the cartoons to incite violence, which spread to at least six cities in a second day of bloody unrest in Afghanistan.
Demonstrations rumbled on around the Muslim world, and the political repercussions deepened, with Iran suspending all trade and economic ties with Denmark, where the drawings were first published. The Danish prime minister called the protests a global crisis and appealed for calm.
The drawings have touched a raw nerve among Muslims. The Quran is interpreted to forbid any illustrations of Muhammad for fear they could lead to idolatry.
Violence has escalated sharply in Afghanistan this week, and seven people have died in demonstrations during the past two days.
“It’s an incredibly emotive issue. This is something that really upset Afghans,” said Joanna Nathan, senior Afghanistan analyst at the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based research institute. “But it is also being used to agitate and motivate the crowds by those against the government and foreign forces” in Afghanistan.
On Tuesday, protesters armed with assault rifles and grenades attacked the NATO base in Maymana, which is manned by peacekeepers from Norway, Finland, Latvia and Sweden, local officials said.
The provincial deputy police chief said three protesters were shot and killed by Afghan and Norwegian forces, and that 22 others were wounded. However, NATO said it fired rubber bullets and only shot live ammunition into the air. Five Norwegian peacekeepers suffered minor injuries.
On Monday, about 2,000 protesters tried to storm the main U.S. military base at Bagram.
Elsewhere Tuesday:
* Police fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of Muslim protesters in Srinagar, India, wounding at least six demonstrators and two policemen.
* Chanting and burning effigies, about 5,000 people gathered in Peshawar, Pakistan, to protest the caricatures.
* Masked Palestinian gunmen riddled a picture of the Danish prime minister with bullets and set fire to a mock Danish flag in the Gaza Strip town of Rafah.
* Thousands of Egyptians demonstrated peacefully in Cairo, demanding a boycott of Danish products and the expulsion of the Danish ambassador.
* About 50 protesters in Tehran hurled firebombs at the Norwegian Embassy; a small fire outside the embassy was quickly contained.
* Hundreds of Muslims burned a Danish flag in the Philippines.
Associated Press
Palestinians burn Danish flags in the West Bank town of Aram on Tuesday during a protest against caricatures of Muhammad.
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