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Libyans riot over prophet cartoon; 10 dead

2/18/2006, 6:33 a.m. ET
By KHALED EL-DEEB
The Associated Press
 

TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Libyans set fire to the Italian consulate in a riot that left at least 10 people dead, the bloodiest protest yet against the Prophet Muhammad cartoons that have roiled the Muslim world.

In eastern Pakistan, police opened fire Saturday on a mob trying to burn down shops, the latest in a spate of cartoon protests that have killed five people in the conservative country. At last four people were injured in the city of Chaniot, said police officer Mohammad Ishaq.

A day earlier, a Pakistani cleric announced a $1 million bounty for killing the cartoonist. Denmark, where a newspaper first published the cartoons, temporarily closed its embassy in Pakistan and advised its citizens to leave the country.

At least 29 people have been killed in protests across the Muslim world. Some 1,000 Muslims protested peacefully in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Saturday, carrying banners reading "We love our Prophet" and "Down with enemies of Islam."

Libyan security officials said 11 people were killed or wounded during Friday's riot in the eastern city of Benghazi when police firing bullets and tear gas tried to contain more than 1,000 demonstrators hurling rocks and bottles. The casualties included police officers, but the officials declined to say how many people had died.

Rioters charged the consular compound and set fire to the first floor of the building, the Italian Foreign Ministry said.

Domenico Bellantone, an Italian diplomat, said 10 or 11 people — all Libyan — had died.

Antonio Simoes-Concalves, an Italian consular official in Benghazi, Libya's second-largest city, said Libyan police were not able to control the crowd.

"They are still continually firing," Simoes-Concalves said Friday night, speaking on the telephone from inside the consulate where he was holed up.

About an hour after Simoes-Concalves spoke, Bellantone said the rioters had dispersed.

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Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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