Students attack British embassy in Tehran

A number of windows were broken in the embassy and firebombs went off outside its walls during the two-hour protest.

Eventually, Iranian police wielding sticks dispersed the demonstrators.

Nearly 1,000 students had gathered outside the embassy and held a peaceful protest, chanting "Death to America" and "Death to Britain".

They blamed the two countries for Wednesday's bombing of the shrine in the Iraqi town of Samarra.

"We hold the occupiers of Iraq responsible," one banner read. They also held signs denouncing caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad that were printed in European papers.

The larger demonstration ended without incident, bBut several hours later, around 400 students returned and attacked the building.

The Iraqi government has accused Sunni militants of the attack, which destroyed the shrine's golden dome and sparked a bloody wave of sectarian violence between Iraq's Shiites and Sunnis.

Security forces are still struggling to contain the violence that has left many dead.

But some Shiites across the Middle East have directed their anger at the US military presence in Iraq, saying they failed to provide security.

On Thursday, the president of Iran - a predominantly Shiite nation - accused the US and Israel of carrying out the bombing to divide Muslims.

"They invade the shrine and bomb there because they oppose God and justice," President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a speech in southwest Iran.

A series of Iranian protests against the prophet caricatures have turned into attacks against embassies in recent weeks, though the government has denounced violence against foreign missions.