JALALABAD, Afghanistan, 7 February 2006 — Global protests over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) escalated yesterday, with six demonstrators killed in Afghanistan, Lebanon and Somalia and warning shots fired outside a US Consulate in Indonesia. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called on Muslims to accept apologies offered. Demonstrators in Iran attacked Austrian and Danish missions and Tehran severed all economic ties with Denmark.

The 12 blasphemous cartoons were first published last September by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten. They have since appeared in newspapers in Norway, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Ireland, Austria, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Hungary.

In Afghanistan, four people were killed and 19 wounded when hundreds of people clashed with police and soldiers during demonstrations against the publication of the cartoons. The worst of the violence was outside Bagram, the main US base in Afghanistan, with police firing on some 2,000 protesters as they tried to break into the heavily guarded facility. Two of the demonstrators were killed and five wounded.

In the central Afghan city of Mihtarlam, police fired on the demonstrators after a man shot at them and others threw stones and knives, said Dad Mohammed Rasa, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry. Two protesters were killed, and three other people were wounded.

At least one person was killed and seven were wounded in the Puntland region of Somalia as security forces clashed with hundreds of protesting Muslims. In Lebanon, a demonstrator involved in an attack on the Danish Consulate in Beirut on Sunday died from his injuries.

A 300-strong crowd — mainly student members of the Basij militia — torched the facade of a building housing the Austrian Embassy in Tehran and pelted the mission with stones, firecrackers and eggs, smashing all of its windows. Later at night, hundreds of protesters hurled stones and fire bombs at the Danish Embassy but nobody was hurt inside the building as the staff had evacuated.

Denmark told its nationals to avoid Muslim countries. A Foreign Ministry warning, which affects thousands of holidaymakers and business executives, listed 14 countries travelers should avoid. They are Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Sudan, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates.

Danish tour operators promptly canceled all trips to Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco.

At a UN environment conference in Dubai, Annan said: “I understand and share their (Muslims’) anguish. But it cannot justify violence, least of all attacks on innocent people. Once again, I appeal to Muslims to accept the apology that has been offered.”

The White House said it understands Muslim anger over the cartoons but that they must also condemn anti-Semitic and anti-Christian “hate speech.” “We would ... urge people who are criticizing these cartoons to speak out forcefully against all forms of hate speech, including cartoons and articles throughout parts of the Arab world which frequently espouse anti-Semitic and anti-Christian views,” said spokesman Scott McClellan.

Thirty Muslim newspaper delivery employees went on strike in southern Austria after the country’s second-largest daily, Kleine Zeitung, printed the caricatures. About 1,000 readers did not get their newspapers, and the delivery personnel involved faced possible dismissal. Doctors in Pakistan vowed not to prescribe medicines from firms based in some European countries where the cartoons were published.