Al-Qaeda has described the deadly attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya as a revenge for the killing of the network’s number two Sheikh Abu Yahya al-Libi.
“The killing of Sheikh Abu Yahya only increased the enthusiasm and determination of the sons of (Libyan independence hero) Omar al-Mokhtar to take revenge upon those who attack our Prophet,” SITE Intelligence Group, a US-based monitoring organisation quoted al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula as saying in a statement.
Al-Qaida’s Yemen-based offshoot did not claim direct responsibility for Tuesday’s attack on the US consulate in Benghazi that killed the US ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, and three other Americans.
But it stressed that “the uprising of our people in Libya, Egypt and Yemen against America and its embassies is a sign to notify the United States that its war is not directed against groups and organisations … but against the Islamic nation that has rebelled against injustice.”
The statement came four days after al-Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawahiri issued a video eulogising Libi, his late deputy and propaganda chief who was killed in a drone strike in June.
The Libyan authorities claim to have identified 50 people involved in the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi.
So far four people have been arrested and are being questioned, officials have said.
“We know of 50 people who were involved in the attack, we have names and we know who they are, but there could be more,” Abdel-Monem Al-Hurr, spokesman for Libya’s Supreme Security Committee, said.
“Four have been arrested. Some of the others may have escaped via Benghazi airport, maybe to Egypt, but this not confirmed. We have given their names to all of the Libyan border entry points.”
Mohammed al-Megaryef, the head of Libya’s national assembly, said the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi was planned and “meticulously executed.”
Tuesday’s attack by armed men in the eastern city of Benghazi came amid a wave of protests in the Muslim world against a US made amateur Internet film deemed insulting to the Prophet Mohammed.
Suspected Islamic militants fired on the consulate with rocket-propelled grenades and set it ablaze on the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on the United States by al-Qaida.
Libya’s assembly chief said the attack on the US consulate was planned and “meticulously executed”.
“I don’t want to talk about what happened in other countries but as for Libya, the operation was meticulously executed,” Mohammed al-Megaryef said of the wave of protests across the world over a US-produced film mocking Islam.
“There was planning. It was not a peaceful protest which degenerated into an armed attack or aggression. That’s how it was planned.
“The attack itself and the manner in which the attack occurred… confirms that this was planned and programmed to achieve a purpose,” Megaryef said.
The attack “was prepared, especially since it coincided with the date of September 11”, he said, referring to the 2011 attacks on the United States claimed by al-Qaeda.
“I do not exclude discovering things that will link al-Qaeda and the US consulate attack,” Megaryef said, adding however that it was “very early to talk about the investigation”.
A senior US official said extremists appeared to have used the demonstration against the film as a “pretext” to attack American interests on the anniversary.
Megaryef also said foreigners may have been involved in the attack.
“There are non-Libyan actors present in Libya. They aim to carry out their own plans in our territory… [But] we will not allow that Libyan territory be used to implement these plans,” he said.
Sudan yesterday rejected a U.S. request to send a platoon of Marines to bolster security at the U.S. embassy in Khartoum.
On Friday, a U.S. official said Washington would send Marines to Sudan to improve security at the embassy after protesters entered the mission in a demonstration against the anti-Islam film.
“Sudan is able to protect the diplomatic missions in Khartoum and the state is committed to protecting its guests in the diplomatic corps,” Foreign Minister Ali Ahmed Karti told the official news agency, SUNA.
Meanwhile, downtown Cairo, scene of the first protest over an anti-Islam film, appeared calm last night hours after security forces pushed protesters away from the U.S. Embassy toward Tahrir Square, where they were further dispersed.
As the United States strengthened security at diplomatic stations amid the anger, demonstrators clashed with police outside the American Consulate in Sydney.
Carrying signs that read: “Obama, Obama, we like Osama” and “Behead All Those Who Insult the Prophet,” hundreds of protesters gathered on the steps of the consulate.
The demonstration turned violent after protesters were pushed back from the building.
Authorities used tear gas and police dogs to disperse protesters who threw bottles and shoes — considered a grave insult among Muslims. Six police officers were injured and eight people were arrested, Sydney police said. Seventeen people were treated for the effects of pepper spray used by police.
In his weekly address, U.S. President Barack Obama acknowledged “images on our televisions are disturbing.”
“But let us never forget that for every angry mob, there are millions who yearn for the freedom and dignity and hope that our flag represents,” Obama said.
Obama reiterated that those who killed U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and three other Americans at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi will be brought to justice.
FBI investigators probing the killings put off a visit until conditions in the volatile region are safer. Agents had hoped to arrive in Libya on Saturday, federal law enforcement officials said.
Hundreds of Egyptian riot police remained in Tahrir Square as workers cleaned streets and businesses and assessed damage from five days of protests.
From Morocco to Malaysia, thousands of Muslims have taken to the streets in recent days — with sometimes deadly results — over the release of a 14-minute trailer, privately produced in the United States.
