A Internet statement purportedly from an insurgent group in Iraq urged militants on Tuesday to attack targets in Denmark and Norway, the first known call for violent reprisals over the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.
"We call on all our brigades in Mujahedeen Army to hit any targets they can in these two countries, and any other country that does the same thing," the statement said.
The authenticity of the Internet posting in the name of the Mujahedeen Army, which claimed to have shot down a U.S. helicopter in Iraq earlier this month, could not be independently verified.
"Those who hurt Allah and his prophet are cursed by Allah in this life and in the afterlife. Allah has prepared a humiliating torture for them," the posting said, quoting a verse from the Quran, the Islamic holy book.
The 12 drawings _ published in a Danish paper in September and in a Norwegian paper this month _ included an image of the prophet wearing a turban shaped as a bomb with a burning fuse.
Islamic tradition bars any depiction of the prophet, even respectful ones, out of concern that such images could lead to idolatry.
The cartoons prompted widespread anger in the Muslim world, including demonstrations and boycotts of Danish products.
The head office of the newspaper Jyllands-Posten in western Denmark and its office in Copenhagen were briefly evacuated Tuesday evening after an English-speaking person called the switchboard saying a bomb would explode. Police with dogs searched the buildings, and the employees were allowed back 90 minutes later, reports AP.
