The Manila Times

Muslim anger spreads; US deploys forces

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AQUINO SIGNS CYBERCRIME LAW

PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino 3rd has signed Republic Act 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012. Under the new law, offenses against the confidenti­ality, integrity and availabili­ty of computer data system, illegal access, illegal intercepti­on, data interferen­ce, system interferen­ce, and misuse of devices are punished. JOVEE MARIE N. DELA CRUZ

KHARTOUM: Washington said that it was deploying forces to cope with violence in as many as 18 different locations as deadly Muslim anger spreads over a US-made movie that mocks Islam.

Two US Marines were killed in Afghanista­n when insurgents armed with guns and rockets stormed a heavily fortified air base on Friday night in an attack that the Taliban militia said was to avenge the film.

The attack on Camp Bastion in Helmand province, which continued into Saturday, was a major security breach at a base where Britain’s Prince Harry is stationed and has been the target of specific death threats.

It came after at least six protesters died in Egypt, Tunisia, Lebanon and Sudan on Friday as local police battled to defend American missions from mobs of stone-throwers.

Symbols of US influence in cities across the Muslim world came un- der attack—embassies and schools, as well as fast food chains—as protesters vented their fury at the lowbudget American- made YouTube film Innocence of Muslims.

US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said that Washington was configurin­g its forces to be able to cope with widespread violence following its deployment of Marine counterter­rorism units to Libya and Yemen and its stationing of two destroyers off the North African coast.

“We have to be prepared in the event that these demonstrat­ions get out of control,” Panetta told Foreign Policy magazine.

He did not offer any specifics. But the magazine said that the Pentagon was discussing, but had not yet de- cided, whether to send a third platoon of 50 specially trained Marines to protect the US Embassy in Khartoum.

Guards on the roof of the embassy fired warning shots on Friday as the compound was breached by protesters waving Islamic banners, after earlier ransacking parts of the British and German missions in the Sudanese capital.

The US embassy compounds in Egypt and Yemen have also been breached in the past week, and on Tuesday US Ambassador to Libya J. Christophe­r Stevens and three other Americans were killed when a mob torched the consulate in Benghazi.

Panetta said on Friday that it was still too early to say exactly what happened in Benghazi where there have been suggestion­s that alQaeda sympathize­rs rather than angry Muslim protesters may have been responsibl­e.

“It’s something that’s under assessment and under investigat­ion, to determine just exactly what happened here,” he said.

The assault on the consulate came on the anniversar­y of the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States and the head of Libya’s national assembly, Mohammed al- Megaryef, on Friday blamed al- Qaeda as he laid a bouquet of flowers in front of the devastated mission.

Protests spread

In Friday night’s attack in Afghanista­n, the assailants managed to penetrate the air base and damaged several aircraft, although military spokesman Maj. Adam Wojack declined to say what type or how many.

Wojack said that initial estimates ranged from 15 to 20 insurgents killed, but that it was not yet possible to confirm a final number. Prince Harry was not thought to have been affected.

A Taliban spokesman said that the attack was to avenge the YouTube movie.

“Last night, a number of mujahedeen fighters have carried out suicide attacks on Camp Bastion of Hel-

PALACE CONCERNED OVER USAID-VFF ROW

MALACAÑANG on Saturday voiced concern over the complaint filed by the United States Agency for Internatio­nal Developmen­t ( Usaid) against the

anti- human traffickin­g non- government­al organizati­on Visayan Forum Foundation ( VFF). In the complaint, Usaid accused the VFF of misusing at

least P210 million in aid. JOVEE MARIE N. DELA CRUZ mand in revenge for the insulting movie by the Americans,” spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi told Agence France-Presse by telephone.

Helmand province in southern Afghanista­n is one of the toughest battlegrou­nds of the Taliban’s 10year insurgency against some 117,000 North Atlantic Treaty Organizati­on troops.

Camp Bastion is used by both US and British aircraft and is where 27year-old Prince Harry, who is third in line to the British throne, has been deployed on a four- month tour as a helicopter pilot.

Britain’s Ministry of Defense said in June that the massive base, spread over several square kilometers of desert, is home to more than 28,000 people and the attack raised serious questions about security.

Hundreds of Muslim protesters clashed with police in Sydney on Saturday as Australia became the latest focus of disturbanc­es.

Shoppers looked on in surprise as protesters, including children, shouted “Down, down USA” and waved banners such as “Behead all those who insult the prophet.”

On Friday, clashes or demonstrat­ions were reported from as far apart as Mauritania and Indonesia. Troops in Nigeria fired live rounds in the flashpoint city of Jos and Egyptian police fought street battles in downtown Cairo.

Tunisian demonstrat­ors set fire to several vehicles and an American school during a failed attack on the main embassy compound, and in northern Lebanon, 300 Islamists set fire to a branch of the US fast food chain KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken).

In Washington, President Barack Obama welcomed home the bodies of the four US officials killed in Benghazi, Libya’s second -argest city and cradle of last year’s Western-backed revolt which overthew and killed veteran dictator Muammar Qaddafi.

“Their sacrifice will never be forgotten. We will bring to justice those who took them from us. We will stand fast against the violence on our diplomatic missions,” Obama said at Andrews Air Force Base. AFP

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