Demonstrators set 6 churches on fire amid fresh protests over Charlie Hebdo's cartoons in Niger

About three people have been killed and six churches have been attacked amid fresh protests against French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo's caricatures portraying Prophet Muhammad.

Demonstrations started outside Niamey's grand mosque as hundreds of protesters shouted, "God is Great" in Arabic. Later on, protests spread to other parts of the country, a day after five were killed in Niger's second city, reported the BBC.

Bars, businesses and hotels belonging to non-Muslim people were also attacked.

Two charred bodies were retrieved from a church on the outskirts of Niamey, and the body of a woman was found in a bar, the report said.

Condemning the violence strongly, Niger's president urged people to be calm.

Last week, three masked gunmen shot dead 12 people at Charlie Hebdo's Paris office. The new cover of the magazine's edition, published after the attack, featured a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad weeping while holding a sign saying "I am Charlie.