Rioting over cartoons kills 3 in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Rioters in several major cities torched banks, cinemas, and Western businesses in the third straight day of violent protests over caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed. An 8-year-old boy was among three people killed in the unrest.

The worst rioting was in Peshawar, a conservative city in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province, where protesters whose numbers were estimated in the thousands burned a KFC restaurant, bus terminal, and three movie theaters, according to news agency reports.

The protesters also ransacked offices of a Norwegian mobile phone company.

Police used wooden staves and tear gas to disperse the crowds, and witnesses reported hearing gunfire near the burning KFC restaurant as police tried to clear the area, according to the Associated Press. Authorities reported two deaths in Peshawar, including the boy, who was killed by a gunshot, and a man who was struck by a falling utility pole.

Dozens were injured and taken to hospitals for treatment.

Rioting also erupted in the eastern city of Lahore, where one man was killed by gunfire during a melee involving students and police, and in the town of Tank near the South Waziristan tribal region on the border with Afghanistan.

Until this week, Pakistan had been relatively muted in its response to the cartoons, which were published in a Danish newspaper in September but did not become widely known among Muslims until last month.