Islamic Militants Urge More Attacks On U.S. Targets

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Islamic militants sought Tuesday to capitalize on anger over an anti-Islam video that was produced in the U.S., saying a suicide bombing that killed 12 people in Afghanistan was revenge for the film and calling for attacks on U.S. diplomats and facilities in north Africa.

The attempt by extremists across the region to harness Muslim fury over a film that denigrates the prophet Muhammad posed new concern for the U.S., whose embassies and consulates were targeted, and in some cases breached, during riots and protests over the past week.

In seven countries at least 28 people have died in violence linked to the film, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans killed in a Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. The death toll counts 12 protesters who were killed in riots last week.

Some officials in Libya said militants planned the attack on the consulate in advance. However, the White House said Tuesday the assault appeared to have been sparked by anger regarding the film, though the investigation continues.

The uproar over the video, "Innocence of Muslims," which was made by an Egyptian-born American citizen and posted on YouTube, reflects seemingly intractable tension between Western principles of free speech and Islamic beliefs that brook no insult directed at the prophet.

Century Fox Report: Google refuses to remove 'The Innocence Of Muslims' from You Tube

Tuesday's attack in Kabul, the Afghan capital, was carried out by a suicide bomber who rammed a car packed with explosives into a mini-bus carrying foreign aviation workers to the airport. At least 12 people died.

Also, al-Qaida's branch in north Africa called for attacks on U.S. diplomats and an escalation of protests against the anti-Islam film.

Yemen-based al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula recently issued a similar call for attacks on U.S. diplomatic facilities. It is al-Qaida's most active branch in the Middle East.

In Tunisia, Foreign Minister Rafik Abdessalem pledged to bring to justice those behind protests at the U.S. Embassy in Tunis in which cars were burned and classrooms at a nearby American school were trashed and looted.

More News: U.S withdraws Diplomats from Tunisia

In Pakistan, hundreds of angry protesters broke through a barricade outside the U.S. Consulate in the northwest city Peshawar, sparking clashes with police that left several wounded on both sides, said police officer Arif Khan.

In Kashmir's main city, Srinagar, a strike shut down businesses and public transportation as marchers burned U.S. flags and an effigy of President Barack Obama. Police fired tear gas and used batons to disperse protesters.

EXPLORE:  World News        Protests In Cairo And Libya     U.S Marines To Libya      Sam Bacile       The Innocence Of Muslims     Violence In Afghanistan

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US Withdraws Diplomats From Tunisia And Sudan

A policemen checks damage to vehicles inside the US embassy in Tunis after it was attacked by protesters on Saturday. 

The US state department has ordered non-essential staff from its embassies in Sudan and Tunisia to leave with their families and warned its citizens against travelling to the two countries owing to concerns over rising anti-American violence.

"Given the security situation in Tunis and Khartoum, the state department has ordered the departure of all family members and non-emergency personnel from both posts, and issued parallel travel warnings to American citizens," said a spokeswoman, Victoria Nuland.

In Tunisia, the warning advised Americans that the international airport in Tunis was open and encouraged all US citizens to depart on commercial flights.

It said Americans who chose to remain in Tunisia should use extreme caution and avoid demonstrations. On Friday, protesters climbed the walls into the US embassy in Tunis, torching cars, attacking the entrance building and setting fire to a gym and a neighbouring American school.

In Sudan, the warning said that while the Sudanese government had taken steps to limit the activities of terrorist groups, some remain and have threatened to attack western interests.

The terrorist threat level remains "critical" throughout Sudan, the department said. It noted that US officials were already required to travel in armoured vehicles and to get permission to travel outside Khartoum, where crowds set alight part of the German embassy and tried to storm the US embassy on Friday.

A US official said on Saturday that Sudan's government was holding up the deployment of an elite marine team it planned to send to Khartoum to boost security at the embassy.

Meanwhile, the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, spoke to leading officials from seven countries on Saturday to discuss the situation following a wave of protests and violence over an anti-Muslim film that has swept across the Middle East and elsewhere in recent days. An obscure, amateurish movie called Innocence of Muslims, which depicts the prophet Muhammad as a fraud, a womaniser and a paedophile, sparked the outrage.

On Tuesday, protesters in Egypt breached the walls of the US embassy in Cairo, then well-armed extremists attacked the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, killing four Americans, including the US ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens. Since then, protests over the video have spread to more than 20 countries in the Middle East, Africa and south-east Asia. While most demonstrations were peaceful, marches in several places turned violent, including in Tunisia and Sudan.

Century Fox Report: Google refuses to remove 'The Innocence Of Muslims' from You Tube.

Clinton spoke to the prime minister of Libya, the president of Somalia, and the foreign ministers of Britain, Egypt, France, Saudi Arabia and Turkey on Saturday, Nuland said.

She spoke to the Libyan prime minister, Mustafa Abushagur, about the importance of bringing the consulate attackers to justice, Nuland said. The prime minister "expressed confidence that the attackers would be brought to justice, noting that the government was already starting to take action", she added.

Clinton thanked the Egyptians, Turks and Saudis for their condemnations of the violence and spoke of the need to ensure security at diplomatic missions, Nuland said. Clinton and the Egyptian foreign minister, Mohamed Kamel Amr, also "agreed that while the film may be offensive and reprehensible, it cannot be used as justification for violence", she said.

The state department travel warnings came as President Barack Obama paid tribute to the Americans killed in Benghazi in his weekly radio address and denounced the anti-US protests that have followed.

EXPLORE:  World News        Protests In Cairo And Libya     U.S Marines To Libya      

Sam Bacile       The Innocence Of Muslims

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Edited By Cen Fox Post Team

Follow @centuryfoxpost