Militants: Afghan attack is revenge for anti-Islam video

Associated Press

KABUL

Islamic militants sought Tuesday to capitalize on anger over an anti-Islam video that was produced in the United States, 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 United States, whose embassies and consulates have been targeted, and in some cases breached, during riots and protests over the past week.

At the same time, Western leaders welcomed statements by Middle East governments that condemned the violence against diplomatic facilities on their soil, even as they expressed anger over the video. Some of those governments replaced autocratic regimes in popular uprisings that swept the region, allowing for greater leniency toward protest.

At least 28 people have died in violence linked to the film in seven countries, 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 toll also includes 12 protesters killed in riots over the film last week.

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

The crisis has become a major foreign-policy challenge for Washington in the final weeks of a presidential election campaign that largely has focused on economic challenges. 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.

The crisis offered fresh impetus for Islamic militants who long have plotted and carried out attacks on Western targets.

Tuesday’s attack in Kabul, the Afghan capital, was carried out by a suicide bomber who rammed a car packed with explosives into a minibus carrying foreign aviation workers to the airport. At least 12 people died, including eight South Africans, three Afghans and a citizen of Kyrgyzstan.