Al Qaeda calls for escalated protests, killing of ambassadors and Stevens’ death a ‘gift’
The Muhammad video is still blamed for the escalating violence in the Middle East and the attacks on the US Embassies all over the world.
Jihad flag photo/António Martins uploaded by Peter593022 via wikimedia commons
Tuesday an al Qaeda’s affiliate in North Africa urged Muslims in the region to kill U.S. government representatives and called the death of Ambassador Chris Stevens a “gift.”
“We encourage all Muslims to continue to demonstrate and escalate their protests … and to kill their (American) ambassadors and representatives or to expel them to cleanse our land from their wickedness,” said the statement from al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
The terrorist group stated last week that the killing of Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, “the best gift you (can) give to his arrogant and unjust administration.”
Elsewhere Tuesday, a Taliban-allied insurgent group claimed responsibility for a suicide attack that killed 12 people, including eight South Africans, in Afghanistan. The attack was a response to the film, the group said.
“Recent events outside of and inside Afghanistan related to the ‘Innocence of Muslims’ video plus the conduct of recent insider attacks have given cause for ISAF troops to exercise increased vigilance and carefully review all activities and interactions with the local population,” said a spokeswoman for NATO’s International Security Assistance Force. The operations with Afghan forces could increase as the “threat level” goes down, she said.
.
