Qaeda threatens attacks on US diplomats

2012-09-18 14:09

An al-Qaeda militant. (AFP, File)

Cairo - Al-Qaeda's branch in North Africa on Tuesday called for attacks on US diplomats and an escalation of protests against an anti-Islam video that was produced in the United States and triggered a wave of demonstrations in Muslim countries.

While demonstrations have tapered off in nations including Egypt and Tunisia, a protest against the film turned violent in Indian-controlled Kashmir and small rallies were held in Indonesia.

In Kabul, the Afghan capital, a suicide bomber rammed a car packed with explosives into a mini-bus carrying South African aviation workers to the airport, killing at least 12 people in an attack that a militant group said was revenge for the film Innocence of Muslims, which was made by an Egyptian-born American citizen.

US officials describe the video as offensive, but the American government's protection of free speech rights has clashed with the anger of Muslims abroad who are furious over the depiction of the Prophet Muhammad as a fraud, womaniser and pedophile.

In a statement, al-Qaeda in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb praised the killing of Christopher Stevens, the US ambassador to Libya, in an attack on the US consulate in Benghazi on 11 September.

The group threatened attacks in Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco and Mauritania, and condemned the United States for "lying to Muslims for more than 10 years, saying its war was against terrorism and not Islam".

Most active branch

The group urged Muslims to pull down and burn American flags at embassies, and kill or expel American diplomats to "purge our land of their filth in revenge for the honor of the Prophet".

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

An Islamist militant group, Hizb-i-Islami, claimed responsibility for the attack in Kabul. The group is headed by 65-year-old former warlord Gubuddin Hekmatyar, a former Afghan prime minister and one-time US ally who is now listed as a terrorist by Washington.

The militia has thousands of fighters and followers across the country's north and east.

In Kashmir's main city of Srinagar, a strike shut down businesses and public transportation as marchers burned US flags and an effigy of President Barack Obama.

When the protesters tried to march into the main business district, police fired tear gas and used batons to disperse them, a police officer said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to reporters. Protesters hurled rocks at the troops, he said. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

US flag torched

An alliance of Kashmiri religious groups called the strike in response to the anti-Islam film. The shutdown was supported by the bar association, trade unions and separatist groups in the volatile region, where strikes are a common tactic to protest against Indian rule.

In Indonesia, about 200 people from various Islamic groups torched an American flag and tires outside the US Consulate in the third largest city of Medan. Some unfurled banners saying, "Go to hell America", while others trampled on dozens of paper flags.

Also on Tuesday, about 100 Muslim students in Makassar, a city in central Indonesia, called for the death penalty against the filmmaker, Nakoula Basseley Nakoula.

The government in Bangladesh blocked YouTube on Monday to prevent people from seeing the video. Mir Mohammaed Morshed, a spokesperson for the state-run Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited, said the decision will remain effective until further notice.

Google has blocked access to the video in Libya and Egypt following violence there, and in Indonesia and India because it says the video broke laws in those countries.

- AP