Qaeda calls for fresh attacks, US pulls some embassy staff

Al-Qaeda called for fresh attacks against US targets in the Arab world and the West, as Washington said it was pulling non-essential embassy staff out of Sudan and Tunisia.
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) also called for more violence against US diplomatic missions in the Middle East and Africa, and urged Muslims in the West to attack US interests, SITE Intelligence Group said.
The US State Department ordered all non-essential personnel to leave Sudan and Tunisia following embassy attacks over an anti-Islam video, warning US citizens against travel there.
Hours earlier, Sudan had refused a US request to send in special forces to protect the Khartoum embassy, after protesters attacked it on Friday.
In cities across the Muslim world protesters have vented their fury at a US-made film, targeting symbols of US influence ranging from embassies and schools to fast food chains.
As US investigators questioned the man allegedly behind the low-budget movie before releasing him, the top Sunni Muslim authority called for a worldwide ban on all forms of attacks on Islam and other religions.
Federal authorities questioned Nakoula Besseley Nakoula in Los Angeles, trying to establish whether he had broken the terms of his probation over a bank fraud conspiracy, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Don Walker told a news agency.
In the worst violence triggered by the anti-Iswlam film , the US ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, and three other Americans were killed late Tuesday when suspected Islamic militants fired rocket-propelled grenades at the US consulate in Benghazi.
In Afghanistan, heavily armed Taliban stormed a strongly fortified air base in Helmand province where Britain’s Prince Harry is deployed, killing two US Marines in an assault the militia said was to avenge the American-made film.