The decision of a Danish newspaper to print cartoons about Muhammad, the prophet of the Islamic faith, has turned into an international diplomatic incident.

From the BBC:

The cartoons, first seen in a Danish paper, have sparked violent protests and boycotts across the Muslim world.

Editors of a Jordanian and a French newspaper who chose to republish the cartoons have been dismissed.

One of the cartoons shows the Prophet wearing a headdress shaped like a bomb, while another shows him saying that paradise is running short of virgins for suicide bombers.

Islamic tradition bans depictions of the Prophet or Allah.

Ambassadors summoned

In an interview with the Dubai-based al-Arabiya channel, (Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh) Rasmussen called on all parties to avoid escalating the row.

"I have sent a very strong appeal to everyone in Denmark that though this dispute may raise many strong feelings, everybody should take the responsibility to ensure peaceful co-operation in Denmark," he said.

Mr Rasmussen said the issue has gone beyond Denmark to become a clash between Western free speech and Islamic taboos.

Denmark has summoned ambassadors in Copenhagen to talks on the row on Friday. Syria and Saudi Arabia have already withdrawn their envoys.

Danish companies are already feeling the pinch of Muslim boycotts.

Dairy firm Arla Foods said on Thursday it was laying off 125 staff in Denmark.

Although the cartoons originated in Denmark's Jyllands-Posten paper, they have been reprinted in newspapers in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain - all saying they were expressing free speech. 

In Jordan, an independent tabloid, al-Shihan, reprinted three of the cartoons on Thursday, saying people should know what they were protesting about.

In a separate article, the newspaper's editor, Jihad Momani, urged the world's Muslims to "be reasonable" in their response to the drawings.

The paper's publishers sacked him hours later over the "shock" he had caused, Jordan's official Petra news agency reported.