Denmark evacuates embassies

Copenhagen - Denmark has evacuated staff from its embassies in Algeria and Afghanistan because of an increased threat level, officials said on Wednesday.

Danish intelligence officials have warned of an "aggravated" terror threat against Denmark since the reprinting in February of a cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad. The warning specifically singled out North Africa, the Middle East, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Embassy employees in Algeria and Afghanistan have been moved to secret locations in Algiers and Kabul, but continue to work, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Erik Laursen said.

The threat "is so concrete that we had to take this decision", Laursen said. "The decision is based on intelligence," he added, declining to elaborate.

Embassy employees in Algiers were relocated "some days ago", while the staff in Kabul was moved on Wednesday, he said.

Laursen stressed that the embassies have not been closed and could still be reached by telephone and e-mail.

"Right now, we are in places that we consider safe," he said.

Danish authorities have said that there is a heightened focus on Denmark among militant extremists because of the February 13 reprinting of a cartoon showing Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban. It was one of the 12 Danish prophet drawings that sparked riots in the Muslim world in 2006.

The newspapers said they reprinted the cartoon in support of free speech after police revealed a plot to kill the creator of the caricature.