Kabul: The Taliban movement on Thursday harshly denounced an anti-Islam movie, Innocence of Muslims, blaming “bestial” America for its production and urging the Muslim world to respond with “appropriate action.”
In an statement issued on Thursday, the militant outfit said that its fighters would redouble efforts to strike at U.S. bases and “invading” troops in retaliation for the video.
The outfit also urged religious scholars to “fully inform the masses about … barbaric acts of America” in their Friday sermons.
Most Western installations in the Afghan capital were on high alert in advance of Friday prayers, which are the main religious event of the Muslim week and a sometime flash point for violent protests, especially if mosque preachers, or imams, take to the pulpit to condemn a perceived insult to Islam.
The crudely made video was thought to have sparked attacks Tuesday on U.S. diplomatic missions in Egypt and Libya, which left the U.S. envoy to Libya and three other Americans dead.
A day earlier, President Hamid Karzai also issued a sharply worded statement calling the video a “desecrating act.” In the past, such statements from the presidential palace have sometimes been taken by conservative religious leaders as tacit approval for whipping up angry street demonstrations.
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