BBC, REUTERS (UK), AL JAZEERA (Qatar), CNN (US)
Protestors enraged by an anti-Islam film have stormed the U.S. Embassy in Yemen, following similar rounds of violence in Libya and Egypt that had left four American diplomats dead in the Libyan city of Benghazi.
The BBC reported Thursday morning that protesters have stormed the embassy's security blockade in the Yemeni capital Sana’a, setting vehicles ablaze and gaining access to the building, even as security officials opened fire.
There is nothing more worthy of disdain than bandwagon outrage. Sigh. bbc.in/OrOyuh #Libya #Yemen
— mollifluous (@mollifluous) September 13, 2012
By midday, reporters on the ground in Sana'a said the violent protesters had been pushed back off embassy property.
CNN is reporting that riot police are also clashing with demonstrators outside the US Embassy in Cairo, with protesters throwing Molotov cocktails.
Violence erupted Tuesday night in Cairo and Benghazi, where US Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other staff members were killed after an attack on the American embassy.
The heightened tensions in the Muslim world have been prompted by a trailer of an American produced film that allegedly blasphemes Islam's founding prophet, Muhammad.
US officials have confirmed 50 members of the Marine Corps and two warships have been dispatched to the Libyan coast to enforce the security of embassy workers, reports Al Jazeera.
President Barack Obama spoke of the attacks on Wednesday: "No act of violence will shake the resolve of the United States of America.
"We are the one indispensable power in the world," he said.
Reuters last night reported that US officials were examining whether the attack on American diplomats in Benghazi was premeditated.
Reuters cited an official as saying that the incident "bears the hallmarks of an organized attack," linking two Islamist militant factions - Ansar al Sharia and Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb - as possibly being involved.
