Ten dead in two straight days of Charlie Hebdo protests in Niger

At least five people were killed on Saturday in protests in Niger against Charlie Hebdo's cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, authorities said, bringing the death toll from two days of violence in the country to 10.

The attack by two gunmen on Charlie Hebdo's offices in Paris sparked massive demand for the next issue of the weekly, which put an image of the Prophet Muhammad on its front page to mark the bloodbath.

That again outraged many in the Muslim world, triggering violent demonstrations in Algeria, Niger and Pakistan on Friday.

That day, demonstrators in the town Zinder in southern Niger set a French cultural center ablaze along with two churches in the area, according to Niger's Interior Minister, Hassoumi Massaoudou.

One security officer was killed in the melee along with three demonstrators. It wasn't immediately clear what caused their deaths. Another 20 security officers and 23 civilians were wounded.

Niger's government has banned the sale of the Charlie Hebdo newspaper in the predominantly Muslim country, a former French colony in West Africa.

On Saturday, police fired tear gas at crowds of stone-throwing Muslim youths who set fire to churches and looted shops in the capital Niamey after authorities banned a meeting called by local Islamic leaders. A police station was attacked and at least two police cars burned.

President Mahamadou Issoufou said all five of those killed on Saturday were civilians, with four of them killed inside burned churches or bars. He said an inquiry would be opened and those responsible for organizing the violence would be punished.

"Those who pillage religious sites and profane them, those who persecute and kill their Christian compatriots or foreigners who live on our soil, have understood nothing of Islam," he said in a televised address.

The president added, however, that he shared the disgust of Muslims who felt offended by the caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad and that freedom of expression should not mean liberty to insult religious beliefs.

Niger's 17 million people are almost all Muslims, though its government remains secular.

With the influence of moderate Sufi brotherhoods, Niger has avoided the armed Islamist uprisings that have shaken neighboring Nigeria and Mali, but there have been growing protests by hardline Muslim associations over social issues.

Al Jazeera and wire services