Saturday, September 15, 2012

Taliban say attack on Nato's Camp Bastion is revenge for film

Taliban say attack on Nato's Camp Bastion is revenge for film


Violent protests have continued across the Middle East in response to a film made in the US seen as insulting to Islam
Mid-East protests
Friday: as it happened
Protests in pictures
Libyans speak out
Diplomat danger

The Taliban have told the BBC that they carried out an attack on Nato's Camp Bastion in Afghanistan in revenge for a film mocking Islam.

At least two US marines died when militants attacked the perimeter of the huge base in Helmand.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi told the BBC that the target was US and UK soldiers and involved 10 insurgents.

Violent protests against Western embassies have swept the Muslim world amid widespread anger over the film.

Protests against the video - Innocence of Muslims - began on Tuesday in Egypt. On Friday, at least seven people died in escalating unrest in Khartoum, Tunis and Cairo.

Nato officials say insurgents used small arms, rockets and mortars in the attack on Camp Bastion.
Continue reading the main story
Protest timeline - main flashpoints


11 September

1. US embassy in Cairo attacked, flag torn down and replaced with black Islamist banner

2. Mob attacks US consulate in Benghazi, US ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans killed

13 September

3. Protesters break into the US embassy compound in Sanaa, Yemen, amid clashes with security forces

14 September

4. Sudanese protesters attack US, German and UK embassies in Khartoum and clash with police. Three killed

5. One person killed in Lebanon in protest at a KFC restaurant

6. Protesters in Tunis attack the US embassy, with a large fire reported and shots heard. Two killed

7. Riot police in Cairo clash with protesters near US embassy. One person killed
In pictures: Anti-Islam film protests
Q&A: What is the anti-Islam film about?
Press gloomy on West's ties with Muslim world

The sprawling camp is home to troops from several countries and Friday's attack targeted the US compound, Camp Leatherneck.

Maj Martin Crighton from Nato's International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) told the BBC troops were conducting an assessment to determine the extent of the damage.

The video - produced in the US - depicts the Prophet Muhammad as a womaniser and leader of a group of bloodthirsty men. It has been circulating on YouTube.

Camp Bastion has a high level of security and is one of the world's busiest airports because of the huge number of helicopter and aeroplane flights landing and taking off.

The UK's Prince Harry is currently based there, on his second Afghan tour of duty.

Nato told Reuters that the prince was on the base at the time of the attack but was "never in any danger".

There are fears of a surge in violence in Afghanistan ahead of the withdrawal of foreign forces by 2014.Sending marines

Western countries have appealed for an end to the violent protests targeting their embassies.

On Friday The EU urged leaders in Arab and Muslim countries to "call immediately for peace and restraint".

The US is sending marines to defend its embassy in Khartoum and has called on Sudan to protect foreign diplomats.

US embassies have borne the brunt of the attacks.

Marines were deployed to Libya on Wednesday after the attack that killed the US ambassador and three other Americans and to Yemen on Friday after violence in Sanaa.

On Friday, US Vice-President Joe Biden his Sudanese counterpart, Ali Osman Taha, to express concern over the security of the US and other Western embassies in Khartoum.

"Vice-President Biden reaffirmed the responsibility of the government of Sudan to protect diplomatic facilities and stressed the need for the government... to ensure the protection of diplomats in Khartoum," a White House statement said.

A crowd of several thousand attacked the US embassy in Khartoum on Friday, and state radio said three protesters had been killed in clashes with security forces.

The German and UK embassies in Khartoum were also attacked, although the controversial film has no known links to either country.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton urged "national authorities in all countries concerned to swiftly ensure the security of diplomatic missions and protect diplomatic staff".

"It is vitally important that leaders across the affected regions should call immediately for peace and restraint, as has already been the case in many countries."

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