As an anti-Islam video continued to spawn protests and violence around the region, Libya's prime minister said Thursday at least one person has been arrested -- and others were in authorities' sights -- tied to the killings of a U.S. ambassador and three others this week.
"This is not acceptable to the Libyan people; this is not acceptable to our values," Prime Minister Mustafa Abushagur told CNN, referring to Tuesday's deadly assault on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. "We are taking this very, very seriously."
The one suspect arrested and "three or four" being actively pursued are Libyans, Abushagur said, adding there are "suspicions that these people belong to some extremist group, but ... that is something we don't know."
The prime minister offered details on the case shortly after Libyan Deputy Interior Minister Wanis al-Sharif said that "some individuals" suspected in the case were in custody, according to state-run LANA news agency.
In response to the Benghazi attack, the United States deployed Marines to secure its interests in the region, as well as warships and drones to hunt for those responsible for killing the four American diplomatic staffers.
Neither Abushagur nor al-Sharif detailed the suspects' motives. Elsewhere around the world, however, a growing number of Muslims have taken to the streets to direct their outage at the United States over an obscure 14-minute film trailer that mocks Islam's prophet. It was posted in July on YouTube, but got more notice recently after Egyptian television aired segments and anti-Islam activists promoted it online.
Numerous questions surround the film, which includes cartoonish scenes of Mohammed as a womanizer, child molester and ruthless killer. The filmmaker was identified in a July 2011 casting call as Sam Bassiel and on the call sheet as Sam Bassil; the name was reported at first by news outlets as Sam Bacile.
By Thursday, as new details emerged, it was becoming apparent that Bacile was probably not the producer's real name. And two members of the film's production staff who spoke to CNN denied initial media reports that the filmmaker was an Israeli Jew.
Here's the latest on the violence and unrest around the region, the response and the implications:
Protests continue
Since Tuesday's deadly assault in Libya -- and a protest the same day at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo -- demonstrations, both small and large, have been reported in Israel, Gaza, Libya, Egypt, Yemen, Sudan, Tunisia, Morocco, Iraq, Iran and among Muslims in the Indian-controlled region of Kashmir. Security has been heightened at U.S. diplomatic missions worldwide.
While some protesters say they have not seen any of the online film, they were incensed by reports of its depiction of the Prophet Mohammed.
One of the largest protests Thursday took place outside the U.S. Embassy in Cairo. One photo from Cairo shows a chalk drawing on the ground of a Jewish star with the words in Arabic, "Remember your black day 11 September." Demonstrators threw rocks and Molotov cocktails as police tried to disperse them by firing tear gas canisters.
At least 13 protesters and six police officers were injured, Egyptian government officials said.
The instability in Egypt is a primary concern to U.S. President Barack Obama, who warned in an interview with Telemundo that it would be "a real big problem" if the leaders in Egypt failed to protect American interests there.
Another massive protest took place Thursday in Sanaa, Yemen, where demonstrators breached a security wall at the U.S. Embassy as several thousand people protested outside.
Violent clashes left 24 members of the security forces and three protesters injured, Yemen's Defense Ministry and witnesses said.
Protesters and witnesses said the three protesters had been hurt, one critically, when police fired on them as they tried to disperse the angry crowd.
Here are details about other protests:
-- In Tunisia and Morocco, protesters massed in front of U.S. embassies.
-- In Gaza City, Palestinians demonstrated outside U.N. headquarters, and about 200 Palestinians protested the film at the Palestine Legislative Council building. In one instance, Palestinian men burned a U.S. flag.
-- In Tel Aviv, Israel, about 50 people demonstrated in front of the U.S. Embassy.
-- In Sudan, the United States called on U.S. citizens Wednesday to stay away from the embassy in Khartoum, where protests were going on.
-- Iranians protested near the Swiss Embassy in Tehran on Thursday. Switzerland represents U.S. interests in Iran, since Washington and Tehran do not have diplomatic relations. Up to 500 people chanted "Death to America!" and called for death to the director of the movie, which was made in the United States. The demonstration ended peacefully after two hours.
The Islamic Propagation Coordination Council, meanwhile, has issued a statement calling for rallies across Iran on Friday "to protest Zionist-U.S. plots against Muslim and Islamic values," the state-run IRNA news
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