A SWEDISH artist who angered Muslims by depicting the Prophet Mohammed as a dog was assaulted while giving a university lecture about the limits of artistic freedom.

The leader of al-Qaida in Iraq offered money for the murder of a Swedish cartoonist who recently produced images deemed insulting to Islam, in a statement carried by Islamist websites today.

About 500 Swedish Muslims demonstrated in the city of Uppsala today to protest against a drawing of the Prophet Muhammad in the local newspaper, police said.

Sweden’s prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt has invited ambassadors from Muslim countries to talks over a drawing of the Prophet Mohammed in a Swedish newspaper.