CAIRO (AP)—Al-Qaida's branch in Yemen has praised the killing of the U.S. ambassador in Libya and called for more attacks to expel American embassies from Muslim nations.

The statement, posted Saturday on Islamic militant websites, suggested al-Qaeda was trying to co-opt the wave of angry protests in the Muslim world over a film produced in the United States denigrating the Prophet Muhammad.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula said the killing this week of Ambassador Chris Stevens in an attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi was "the best example" for those attacking embassies.

It said protesters' aim should be to "expel the embassies of America from the lands of the Muslims" and called on protests to continue in Muslim nations "to set the fires blazing at these embassies."