In Yemen, protesters breach the of the U.S. Embassy compound in the capital, Sanaa, as a wave of anti-American demonstrations sweeps across several Middle East nations. NBC's Richard Engel reports from Cairo.
By NBC News staff and wire reports
Updated at 9:29 a.m. ET:?Protesters angry over an obscure film critical of Islam's Prophet Muhammad stormed the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa, Yemen, on Thursday, as unrest that led to the deaths of a U.S. ambassador and three other Americans in Libya spread to other countries in the region.
Yemeni security forces fired into the air as demonstrators reached the embassy's grounds, according to The Associated Press and Reuters. The New York Times reported that protesters managed to set fire to a building inside the compound but were forced by security forces to pull back after trying to take furniture and computers.
Agence France-Presse, citing an unnamed security official, said a Yemeni protester was killed by police during the melee at the compound. Another?unnamed security source told Reuters that at least 15 people were wounded.
A Yemeni official said that order had since been restored, but the situation on the ground appeared to remain fluid.
"Initial reports are that all embassy personnel are safe and accounted for," a State Department official told NBC News.
Yemeni state news agency Saba said President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi condemned the attack and set up a committee to investigate.
Hadi avowed to bring the culprits to justice, saying the attack by a "rowdy crowd" was part of a conspiracy to derail Yemen's close relations with Washington.
More photos: Angry crowd attacks US Embassy in Yemen
An Obama administration official told NBC News:?"We are doing everything we can to support our mission in Yemen. We've had good cooperation from the Yemeni government which is working with us to maintain order and protect our facilities and people. These protests appear to be motivated by the (anti-Islam) film."
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By early afternoon local time, the crowd amassed outside the embassy compound in Sanaa appeared to be in the thousands, with witness estimates ranging from about 4,000 to as many as 10,000.
Twelve people were arrested, Reuters reported.
Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) pays tribute to Ambassador Chris Stevens, who was killed in an attack on a U.S. consulate in Libya. He also discusses GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney's statement that President Obama was too soft in comments about anti-American protests.
Meanwhile in Cairo, police fired tear gas Thursday to disperse protesters outside the U.S. Embassy. On Tuesday demonstrators had climbed the walls there and torn down the American flag.
The unrest followed Tuesday night's attack on the U.S. Consulate in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, where Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other State Department officers were killed.
Zoubeir Souissi / Reuters
The U.S. Ambassador to Libya and three other Americans were killed after protesters angry over a film that ridiculed Islam's Prophet Muhammad stormed the U.S. consulate in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, as protests spread across the region.
President Barack Obama said the killers of the four Americans in Libya would be tracked down and ordered two destroyers to the Libyan coast.
The protesters' anger was triggered by the amateurish anti-Islamic film, a trailer for which appeared on YouTube, although U.S. authorities said Wednesday that they could not rule out the possibility that al-Qaida-inspired Islamist militants had already planned the deadly attack in Libya's second city to coincide with Sept. 11.
Widespread protests
There were protests and threats in several other countries in the Middle East.
On Thursday, the?Asaib al-Haq militia threatened U.S. interests in Iraq over the film;?the group carried out some of the most prominent attacks on foreigners during the Iraq War.
Hani Mohammed / AP
Yemeni protestors break a door of the U.S. Embassy during a protest about a film ridiculing Islam's Prophet Muhammad Thursday.
In the Iranian capital, Tehran, Agence France-Presse reported that around 500 demonstrators converged on the Swiss Embassy, which handles American interests in the country in the absence of formal diplomatic relations. Police held back the protesters, but the compound had already been evacuated as a precaution, AFP said.
Late Wednesday, police fired teargas at angry demonstrators outside the U.S. Embassy in Tunisia and several hundred people gathered in front of the U.S. Embassy in Sudan.
In Morocco, a few dozen protesters burned American flags and chanted slogans near the U.S. Consulate in Casablanca.
Meanwhile in Germany, a Berlin police spokesperson told NBC News on Thursday that the visa and passport section of the U.S. Consulate in Berlin ?- not the embassy -- was protectively evacuated.
TODAY's Matt Lauer speaks with security analyst Michael Leiter about the likelihood that the attack on a U.S. consulate in Libya was a pre-meditated act by a group of al-Qaida sympathizers rather than a spontaneous uprising over an anti-Muslim Internet video.
After one of the consulate employees opened the passport belonging to a man applying for an American visa, up to three consulate staff complained about respiratory problems. They remained under medical supervision.
Experts from German police and the Berlin fire department were at the site in the district of Berlin-Zehlendorf, investigating the incident.?The unidentified man who brought the documents into the section was being held at the consulate and was being questioned by German authorities.
Demonstrators flee, then charge back
Before storming the U.S. Embassy compound in Sanaa Thursday, the demonstrators removed the embassy's sign on the outer wall and set tires ablaze. Once inside the compound, they brought down the U.S. flag and burned it.
Film on al-Jazeera television showed demonstrators jumping up and down on the parapet of the building and scaling the walls.
The young demonstrators shouted "we redeem, Messenger of God," Reuters reported. Others held aloft banners declaring "Allah is Greatest."
"We can see a fire inside the compound and security forces are firing in the air. The demonstrators are fleeing and then charging back,'' one witness told Reuters.
Thursday is the first day of the weekend in Yemen.
Yemen is home to al-Qaida's most active branch and the United States is the main foreign supporter of the Yemeni government's counterterrorism campaign. The government on Tuesday announced that al-Qaida's No. 2 leader in Yemen was killed in an apparent U.S. airstrike, a major blow to the terror network.
The United States, eager to help Yemen recover from the upheaval that put the state on the verge of collapse, has said it would provide $345 million in security, humanitarian and development assistance this year, more than double last year's aid.
Reuters TV
Protesters outside the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday.
Obama speaks to leaders of Egypt, Libya
On Wednesday night, Obama spoke to the presidents of Egypt and Libya and urged them to continue working with the United States to ensure the safety of diplomatic personnel, the White House said.
Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi promised Egypt "would honor its obligation to ensure the safety of American personnel," the White House said.
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Obama told Morsi that while "he rejects efforts to denigrate Islam ... there is never any justification for violence against innocents."
On Thursday, Morsi said he supported peaceful protest but not attacks on embassies.
"Expressing opinion, freedom to protest and announcing positions is guaranteed but without assaulting private or public property, diplomatic missions or embassies," he said during a visit to Brussels.
Morsi also pledged to protect foreigners in Egypt.
Challenge for US
The developments in the Arab world, and especially in Egypt, are shaping up to be a major political and foreign policy challenge for Obama in this election year.
Timeline: Political fallout from the attack on diplomats in Libya
Egypt has been a cornerstone of American policy in the Middle East ever since it became the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979.
But after popular protests helped oust Egypt's longtime pro-U.S. dictator Hosni Mubarak in 2011, the country's role in American regional policy was thrown into question.
More Middle East & North Africa coverage on NBCNews.com
While Egypt is still one of the top recipients of American foreign aid, the recent election of Morsi of the conservative Muslim Brotherhood has led to a shift in U.S.-Egyptian relations.
Morsi, an Islamist, needs to strike a balance by addressing the anger of many Muslims over the film while also not alienating Washington.
Rachel Maddow shares a piece of the interviews by Telemundo anchor and host of Noticiero Telemundo, Jos? D?az-Balart, talking with President Barack Obama about the U.S. response to the attacks on American missions in Egypt and Libya Tuesday.
The ascension of Morsi was the result of the Arab Spring, in which strongmen in countries such as Libya and Tunisia as well as Egypt were ousted by a combination of popular protests and military action. But the results are unclear.
In an interview with Telemundo on Wednesday, Obama said that while he does not believe Egypt is an ally of the United States, he also does not consider the country an enemy.
"I think that we are going to have to see how they respond to this incident," Obama said.
The Obama administration was unhappy with Egypt's apparently tepid initial response to the assault on the U.S. Embassy in Cairo on Tuesday.
Full World coverage on NBCNews.com
During a separate call on Wednesday, Obama thanked Libyan President Mohamed Magariaf for his condolences over the deaths of the four Americans in Benghazi.
The White House said the two leaders agreed to "work together to do whatever is necessary to identify the perpetrators of this attack and bring them to justice."
NBC News staff, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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