Al Qaeda In Yemen Asks Western Muslims To Get More Involved In Attacks; Says More US Diplomats Should Be Killed Over 'Innocence of Muslims'

The Yemen wing of al Qaeda has asked Muslims worldwide to kill more U.S. diplomats in Islamic countries, terming the anti-Islam film made in the U.S. as a another chapter in the "crusader wars" against Islam, stated a Reuters report citing a posting on an al Qaeda website.

The statement posted by the Islamic terrorist wing of the al Qaeda for Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) website urged Muslims to step up protests against U.S. diplomatic missions.

On Tuesday, U.S. Ambassador to Libya J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed when the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi was attacked by protesters. Violent mobs had also stormed U.S. consulates in Egypt and Yemen Tuesday, and the protests have spread to several other countries.

Defending the attacks and killings on the U.S. consulates, al Qaeda said in its statement that U.S. embassies should be burned and diplomats should be killed as it is a "natural response" to the insult.

"Whoever comes across America's ambassadors or emissaries should follow the example of Omar al-Mukhtar's descendants (Libyans), who killed the American ambassador," the group said, endorsing the killings in the U.S consulate, as reported by Reuters.

"Let the step of kicking out the embassies be a step towards liberating Muslim countries from the American hegemony... The film published in America which insults our Prophet Mohammad, peace be upon him, comes as part of the continuing crusader wars against Islam," AQAP's statement said.

The group said that defending the honor of the prophet was a "religious" duty and an obligation to the muslim nations, according to the report. It also called the Muslims living in the West to be more involved in the attacks.

"They are more capable of doing harm and reaching the enemy is easier for them," it said.

Yemen has a strong presence of Islamic extremist groups such as al Qaeda and the government in that country is fighting the terrorists with U.S. aid. Recently, the Yemen government had announced that the number two leader of al Qaeda in Yemen had been killed.

Muslim extremists have blamed the U.S. for the film titled the "Innocence of Muslims," as it was reportedly made in the U.S. and uploaded on to YouTube by a Coptic Christian in the country. However, the U.S. government has condemned the film and said that it did not endorse insult to any religion.

Meanwhile, the U.S. government is probing the involvement of a California based man, identified as Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, in producing the film. Media reports had earlier said that Nakoula, a 55-year-old Coptic Christian had allegedly produced the anti-Islam movie.

Nakoula, who has a past history of bank fraud, was taken in for questioning by the police on Saturday.