COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Feb. 20 (UPI) -- Denmark's Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller has warned al-Qaida will try to exploit Muslim anger over the cartoons of Prophet Mohammed.
He also called a $1 million offer by a Pakistani cleric to kill the cartoonists an incitement to murder and "un-Islamic," reports the BBC. The cartoons were first printed in Denmark. Muslim protests around the world have caused the deaths of at least 44 people.
"All extremists will exploit the situation. Al-Qaida, too, will use it and fan the fire," he said.
In other developments, Pakistan released the head of the country's radical Islamic political coalition, who was held Sunday prior to a banned anti-cartoon rally, the BBC report said.
In Russia, owners of a newspaper shut it down after it reprinted the cartoons.
