Anti-American protests break out in the Middle East

U.S. diplomatic compounds came under attack Tuesday in Egypt and Libya, where State Department employees were killed.

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Sept. 13, 2012

Protesters run as riot police fire tear gas outside the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa, Yemen.

Khaled Abdullah / Reuters

Sept. 13, 2012

A protester looks to the camera after sustaining injuries from a confrontation with riot police who fired tear gas at protesters outside the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa, Yemen.

Mohamed al-Sayaghi / Reuters

Sept. 13, 2012

Men try to break through the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa, Yemen, during a protest over a controversial movie called “Innocence of Muslims.” Some officials have cast doubt on the theory that violence grew spontaneously out of anger over the film.

Mohammed Huwais / AFP/Getty Images

Sept. 13, 2012

Protesters step on U.S. and Israeli national flags in Sanaa.

Mohamed al-Sayaghi / Reuters

Sept. 13, 2012

Protesters climb a fence surrounding the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa, Yemen. Hundreds of Yemeni demonstrators stormed the embassy Thursday apparently in protest against a film they consider blasphemous to Islam, and security guards tried to hold them off by firing into the air.

Mohamed al-Sayaghi / Reuters

Sept. 13, 2012

Protesters break windows at the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa, Yemen.

Mohamed al-Sayaghi / Reuters

Sept. 13, 2012

Egyptian protesters clash with riot police outside the U.S. Embassy in Cairo.

Nasser Nasser / AP

Sept. 13, 2012

A riot policeman passes a burning vehicle during clashes outside the U.S. Embassy in Cairo as part of widespread anger across the Muslim world about a film ridiculing Islam's Prophet Muhammad.

Hussein Talal / AP

Sept. 12, 2012

President Obama, alongside Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, speaks in the Rose Garden at the White House about the death of J. Christopher Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya. Stevens and three other Americans were killed in an attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

Sept. 12, 2012

House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) lead a moment of silence at the Capitol for U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans who were killed in Libya.

Mark Wilson / Getty Images

Sept. 12, 2012

A flag flies at half-staff outside the State Department in recognition of U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans killed in an attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

Alex Wong / Getty Images

Sept. 12, 2012

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney holds a news conference at his campaign office in Jacksonville, Fla. Romney defended his criticism of the Obama administration after attacks on U.S. diplomatic compounds in Egypt and Libya, charging that a statement issued by the U.S. Embassy in Cairo amounted to "an apology for American principles."

Bill O'Leary / The Washington Post

Sept. 12, 2012

Ali Aujali, Libya’s ambassador to the United States, speaks during a news conference held by the Islamic Society of North America and interfaith groups in Washington. They condemned the violence that led to the death of U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and other Americans in Libya.

Win McNamee / Getty Images

Sept. 12, 2012

An exterior view of the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, which was attacked and set on fire by gunmen Tuesday.

Esam Omran al-Fetori / Reuters

Sept. 12, 2012

People stand near a burnt car at the consulate.

Esam Omran al-Fetori / Reuters

Sept. 12, 2012

A man stands inside the consulate in Benghazi.

Esam Omran al-Fetori / REUTERS

Sept. 12, 2012

An interior view of the damage at the U.S. consulate.

Esam Omran al-Fetori / Reuters

April 11, 2011

J. Christopher Stevens, seen in In this April 2011 photo, and three other Americans were killed Tuesday in an assault on the American consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi, the White House says. Stevens, a longtime Middle East hand in the State Department, was named ambassador to Libya in May. He had worked in Libya for a number of years, both before and after the fall of slain Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi.

Ben Curtis / AP

Sept. 11, 2012

The U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, was heavily damaged in Tuesday’s attack. Gunmen reportedly attacked the compound on Tuesday evening, clashing with Libyan security forces before the latter withdrew as they came under heavy fire.

Esam Al-Fetori / Reuters

Sept. 11, 2012

The consulate is seen in flames. The attacks were apparently prompted by outrage over an amateur anti-Muslim film made in the United States.

Esam Al-Fetori / Reuters

Sept. 11, 2012

In a statement issued by the White House early Wednesday morning, President Obama said he had directed an increase in security at U.S. diplomatic posts around the world.

Esam Al-Fetori / Reuters

Sept. 11, 2012

“We condemn this vicious and violent attack that took their lives, which they had committed to helping the Libyan people reach for a better future,” Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in a statement.

Esam Al-Fetori / Reuters

Sept. 11, 2012

Clinton identified one of those killed in the attack as Sean Smith, a Foreign Service information management officer. The names of the other two people killed were being withheld pending notification of their families.

Esam Al-Fetori / Reuters

Sept. 11, 2012

The attack in Benghazi followed protests in neighboring Egypt, where a group of protesters scaled the wall of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo on Tuesday evening.

Esam Al-Fetori / Reuters

Sept. 11, 2012

Protesters destroy an American flag pulled down from the U.S. Embassy in Cairo. Protesters entered its outer grounds, pulled down an American flag, then tried to burn it outside the embassy walls, according to witnesses.

Mohammed Abu Zaid / AP

Sept. 11, 2012

Protesters chant slogans amid orange smoke outside the U.S. Embassy in Cairo. The protest was inspired at least in part by an allegations of an anti-Islamic film in the United States. Several protesters said that their preachers had told them to come out to demonstrate in front of the embassy on Tuesday. "We are speaking out and will never be tolerant toward any curses for our prophet," said Moaz Abdel Kareem, 37, who had a long beard typical of followers of the Salafist movement and was carrying a black flag.

Mohammed Abu Zaid / AP

Sept. 11, 2012

Egyptian protesters chant anti-U.S. slogans in front of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo. It was not immediately clear how many Americans were inside the embassy at the time of the incident or if any arrests were made.

Nasser Nasser / AP

Sept. 11, 2012

Egyptian protesters climb the walls of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, sprayed with Arabic graffiti that reads "any one but you God's prophet."

Nasser Nasser / AP

Sept. 11, 2012

Egyptian protesters climb the walls of the U.S. embassy while others chant anti-U.S. slogans during a protest in Cairo. "We are, obviously, working with Egyptian security to try to restore order at the embassy," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said. "We all want to see peaceful protests, which is not what happened outside the U.S. mission, so we’re trying to restore calm now."

Nasser Nasser / AP

Sept. 11, 2012

Protesters wearing Guy Fawkes masks pose for a photo against a wall of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo.

Nasser Nasser / AP

Sept. 11, 2012

Protesters shout slogans and light flares in front of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo.

Amr Abdallah Dalsh / Reuters

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