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Friday, September 14, 2012Muslim world rages at anti-Islam film
* Hundreds of Yemenis break through main gate of US embassy in Sanaa, smash windows and burn cars
* In Cairo, protesters hurl stones at police cordon around US embassy
SANAA/CAIRO: Dem- onstrators attacked the US embassies in Yemen and Egypt on Thursday in protest over a film they consider blasphemous to Islam, and American warships headed to Libya after the US ambassador there died in related violence earlier this week.
Hundreds of Yemenis broke through the main gate of the heavily fortified compound in the capital Sanaa, shouting “We sacrifice ourselves for you, Messenger of God”. They smashed windows of security offices outside the embassy and burned cars.
“We can see a fire inside the compound and security forces are firing in the air. The demonstrators are fleeing and then charging back,” one witness said. A security source said at least 15 people were wounded, some by gunfire, before the Yemeni government ringed the area with troops. An embassy spokesman said its personnel were safe.
In Egypt, protesters hurled stones at a police cordon around the US embassy in central Cairo after climbing into the embassy compound and tearing down the American flag.
During a similar protest on Tuesday at the US consulate in Benghazi, Libyans staged military-style assaults on the mission and a safe house refuge. It was the 11th anniversary of al Qaeda’s attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001.
The US ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans died in the assaults, carried out with guns, mortars and grenades. Eight Libyans were injured.
President Barack Obama vowed to “bring to justice” those responsible for the attack, which US officials said may have been planned in advance. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Washington had nothing to do with the video, which she called “disgusting and reprehensible”.
The US military moved two destroyers towards the Libyan coast, in what an official said was a move to give the administration flexibility for any future action against Libyan targets.
Obama said security was being increased at US diplomatic stations around the globe. Nigeria put police on high alert and stepped up security around all foreign missions, fearing an Islamist backlash, possibly after weekly prayers on Friday.
On Thursday, the US consulate in Berlin was partially evacuated after an employee fell ill on opening a suspicious envelope. Bangladeshi Islamists tried to march on the US embassy in Dhaka and Iranian students protested in Tehran.
Earlier in the week, there were protests outside US missions in Tunisia, Sudan and Morocco.
Among the assailants in Benghazi, Libyans identified units of a heavily armed local Islamist group, Ansar al Shariah, which sympathises with al Qaeda and derides Libya’s US-backed bid for democracy.
US officials said there were suggestions members of al Qaeda’s north-Africa based affiliate may have been involved.
Yemen, a key US ally, is home to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), viewed by Washington as the most dangerous branch of the militant network established by Osama bin Laden.
Republican Mitt Romney, Obama’s challenger, criticised the government’s response to the crisis, saying it was disgraceful to be seen to be apologising for American values of free speech. reuters
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk