Danish and Dutch evacuate Afghanistan embassies

COPENHAGEN/AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Denmark and The Netherlands have moved all the staff from their embassies in Afghanistan to secret safe locations because of concern about security, Foreign Ministry officials said on Wednesday.

Denmark moved the staff out of its embassy in Algeria a few days ago for the same reason.

"There was a change in the security situation and we decided that it was necessary..." said Danish Foreign Ministry spokesman Erik Laursen, saying the decision was based on new intelligence.

The Danish embassy staff in Kabul were moved on Wednesday and continue to work remotely, Laursen said.

He could not say how long the staff of the two embassies would remain at their new locations.

Dutch embassy staff in Kabul were moved to secret locations on Monday because the terror threat had risen, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

On Friday, the son of the new chief of the Dutch military and another Dutch soldier serving with NATO-led forces were killed when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. Taliban insurgents claimed responsibility for the blast.

The Netherlands has also moved its embassy in the Pakistani capital Islamabad to a hotel because of concern about security following the release of an anti-Koran film by a Dutch politician.

The controversial film 'fitna', or 'strife', by anti-immigration lawmaker Geert Wilders accuses the Koran of inciting violence and has drawn strong condemnation and protests from Muslim countries.

The Danish Security and Intelligence Service warned earlier this month of a heightened level of terror threats against Danish interests in North Africa, the Middle East, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

It said the threat level had risen since Danish newspapers reprinted an old cartoon depicting the Prophet Mohammad earlier this year as a protest against a plot to murder the cartoonist.

The cartoon, depicting Mohammad wearing a bomb in his turban, was one of 12 drawings of the Prophet that were first printed in a Danish newspaper in 2005 and sparked riots in the Muslim world in 2006 after being distributed more widely.

Most Muslims consider any depiction of the founder of Islam offensive.

(Additional reporting by Harro Ten Wolde and Catherine Hornby in Amsterdam)

(Reporting by Gelu Sulugiuc; Editing by Tim Pearce)