With fiery sermons and raucous demonstrations, Iraqis called for an investigation into Danish and Norwegian publications carrying cartoons deemed offensive to the Prophet Muhammed ().

Iraq is the latest Muslim country to enter the fray over the cartoons, which has seen the withdrawal of ambassadors, boycotts of products and widespread Muslim condemnation of the Danish government's stance.
On January 10, the Norwegian Christian publication Magazinet reprinted the 12 satirical cartoons as a gesture of solidarity with the conservative Danish daily Jyllands-Posten, which originally ignited the controversy in September.

Muslims both in Denmark and around the world have protested the cartoons, which include portrayal of the Prophet Muhammed () wearing a time-bomb shaped turban and show him as a wild-eyed, knife-wielding bedouin flanked by two women shrouded in black.

In a virulent sermon from the pulpit of his mosque in the Shiite Kadhimiya neighborhood of Baghdad, Sheikh Hazem al-Aaraji described the cartoons as an attack on Islam.

"They want to disfigure Islam and this we cannot accept. These cartoons directly attack the personality of the messenger of God. We say to them: they cannot attack Mohammed, nor any of the prophets," thundered the preacher.

"Mohammed is the symbol of humanity. He is not dead, he lives always among us through his teachings and through the sacred book," said the preacher, before calling on the Iraqi government and all Muslim states to demand an accounting from the Danish and Norwegian governments.

The main Sunni political coalition, the National Concord Front, also issued a denunciation of the cartoons, calling for the West on Wednesday, to "put an end to their decline in morals."

The Iraqi Islamic Party sent a letter directly to Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari and Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, demanding they get an explanation from the Danish and Norwegian governments.

Over 500 Danish troops are stationed in the south, along with the British, as part of the multinational coalition in Iraq.

The Norwegian foreign ministry on Thursday asked its diplomats posted in Muslim countries to express their "regrets" to their host governments about the re-printing of the cartoons.

PHOTO CAPTION

After Friday prayers, over 500 worshippers gather with copies of Quran to denounce cartoons published last year in a Danish newspaper, Friday, Jan. 27, 2006, in Baghdad, Iraq. (AP)