DAMASCUS, Feb. 4 (Xinhuanet) -- Hundreds of Syrian demonstrators stormed and set fire to the Danish Embassy in Damascus on Saturday in a protest against cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad which were first published by a Danish newspaper.

    Saturday's demonstration in front of the Danish Embassy in downtown Damascus went on peacefully at first, but angry protestors later stormed the embassy building and set it on fire, said witnesses.

    The building also houses the Swedish and Chilean missions. It was not immediately clear whether any casualties were caused.

    Earlier in the week, Syria recalled its ambassador to Denmark amid an outrage over newspaper cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad.

    The cartoons were first published by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten last September and republished in Norway last month and in several other European newspapers.

    One of the cartoons depicts the Prophet Mohammad wearing a turban shaped like a bomb.

    The Syrian Foreign Ministry has condemned the cartoons as an offense to Muslims and Arabs and demanded the Danish government punish the offending paper.

    Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, however, said that his government cannot apologize on behalf of independent media, but Jyllands-Posten has apologized.

    According to Islamic tradition, realistic depictions of prophets were prohibited and caricatures of them were considered profane. Enditem