US examines if extremists are inciting worldwide riots
The United States and other countries are examining whether extremist groups are inciting protesters to riot around the world over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, a US military spokesman said today.
Col. James Yonts, a military spokesman in Afghanistan, made the comment when asked whether al-Qaida and the Taliban may have been involved in days of violent demonstrations there.
“Other countries are having the same demonstrations, same problems. Very violent demonstrations, starting peaceful, turning violent,” Yonts said.
“The United States and other countries are providing assistance in any manner that they can for the answer to that exact question that you are talking about, in a global type of look to see if this is something larger than just a small demonstration, if there is a tie to it, if there is an infrastructure, a connection to it,” he said.
But Yonts stressed they had no evidence to support suggestions that al-Qaida or Taliban were linked to the riots in Afghanistan.
