Pakistan rejects filmmaker bounty as Muslims keep up protest

ISLAMABAD (AFP) - Pakistan distanced itself Sunday from a cabinet minister's bounty for killing the maker of anti-Islam film "Innocence of Muslims", as protests against the movie continued from Turkey to Hong Kong.

A spokesman for Pakistani Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf rejected the $100,000 (75,000-euro) bounty promised by Railways Minister Ghulam Ahmed Bilour, who on Saturday offered a "prize" for killing the filmmaker and invited the Taliban and Al-Qaeda to take part in the "noble deed".

"This is not government policy. We completely dissociate (ourselves) from this," the spokesman told AFP.

Fresh rallies were held across Pakistan Sunday to condemn the film, after violent nationwide protests Friday left 21 people dead as police used tear gas and live rounds to fight back protesters who attacked shops and cinemas and tried to reach Western embassies