Boy killed during anti-cartoon protest in Somalia

A 14-year-old boy was shot dead when a protest against the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad turned violent in northeastern Somalia today, residents and hospital sources said.

They said police intervened after demonstrators started hurling stones at offices of international aid groups in the town of Bosaso, which lies in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland.

"Those who threw stones were mostly children and under-age people, and police tried to stop the action," a witness told Reuters by telephone.

Hospital sources did not give details how the boy died, but said at least nine other people were wounded in the unrest.

Mainly Muslim Somalia has been without a functioning government since warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, but Puntland is relatively calm, with its own government and police force.

A wave of anger has swept the Muslim world over the publication of the cartoons, one of which shows the Prophet wearing a turban shaped like a bomb.

First printed in Denmark, the cartoons have appeared in newspapers across Europe, as well as in the United States.

Iranians throw fire bombs at Danish embassy
In more cartoon protest violence, a crowd of about 400 demonstrators threw petrol bombs and large rocks at the Danish embassy in Tehran tonight.

A Reuters correspondent at the scene said about 20 petrol bombs had been thrown at the embassy, which sits behind a high wall in a residential district of northern Tehran.

Only one of the petrol bombs had gone over the wall, to loud cheers from the crowd. But the embassy building itself did not appear to be damaged. - Reuters