Nigerian MPs cheered in the northern majority Muslim state of Kano as Danish and Norwegian flags were burned in a ceremony in the parliament premises.

The flags were torched to show disapproval of the publication in Denmark and Norway of cartoons satirizing the Prophet Muhammad ().

Earlier Kano state MPs passed a resolution to call off multi-million dollar trade negotiations with Denmark.

In Niger, thousands took part in banned protests against the cartoons.

The cartoons, originally published in a Danish newspaper, have been denounced in other African countries and throughout the Islamic world.

In Somalia, a teenage boy died after protesters attacked police on Monday.

Islamic tradition explicitly prohibits images of Allah and the Prophet Muhammad.

Christian backing

The BBC's Ado Saleh in Kano says some 200 people, including the 40 state parliamentarians, attended the flag burning.

They shouted "Allah Akbar" (God is great) as Kano's parliament speaker Balarabe Saidu Gani set the flags alight, he says.

The Christian Association of Nigeria has condemned the publication of the cartoons.

Tensions between Christians and Muslims in Nigeria have led to clashes leaving thousands dead in recent years.

Anti-riot police

Meanwhile, the centre of Niger's capital, Niamey, came to a standstill as tens of thousands of Muslim protesters called on Niger's government to condemn the cartoon.

Permission for the march was withdrawn at the last minute for fear the situation would get out of hand, but the protesters ignored this.

For three hours, religious leaders addressed angry crowds condemning what they called the gratuitous provocation of Muslims by the West.

Anti-riot police protected Denmark's embassy in the capital, but the demonstration came to an end peacefully.

Protests against the cartoons in Muslim countries have targeted embassies and consulates of Denmark and Norway, the first countries where the cartoons were published.

They have been reprinted in newspapers in Germany, Italy, Hungary, the Netherlands, Spain and South Africa.

Jyllands-Posten, the Danish paper that originally printed the caricatures, has apologised for causing offence to Muslims, although it maintains it was legal under Danish law to print the cartoons.

'Cartoons' Published in Croatia Criticized by Government

The Croatian daily Nacional published all 12 cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed (), which received damning criticism from the Islamic world, in today's edition.

In the news, Nacional announced that after considering the interest of freedom of press and public opinion the paper has decided to publish the cartoons, which had lead to anti-European sentiment.

Nacional, the only paper that has published the cartoons in Croatia so far, ran six of the cartoons on the front page.

PHOTO CAPTION

Indonesian Muslim students burn a Danish flag during a protest in Banda Aceh,February 7, 2006. (REUTERS)

BBC