Britain poised to evacuate diplomats from Middle East as mob violence in protest at anti-Islam film spreads.

Protests saw the US embassy in Yemen stormed yesterday

Unrest started with murder of US ambassador to Libya and has spread

Emergency plans are in place to evacuate UK diplomats and their families following a second day of violence in the Middle East.

Protests over an anti-Islam film saw the US embassy in Yemen stormed yesterday by a mob numbering in the thousands.

The unrest started with the murder of the American ambassador to Libya and has spread to Yemen, Iran, Egypt, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Algeria, Sudan, Morocco and Tunisia.

Flare-up: Fanatics attack the US embassy in Yemen yesterday as emergency plans are put in place to evacuate UK diplomats and their families following unrest in the Middle East

Worrying times: Protesters flee as police open fire into the air to disperse them outside the U.S. embassy in Sanaa

Trying to get in: Hundreds of Yemeni demonstrators stormed the U.S. embassy in Sanaa on Thursday in protest against a film they consider blasphemous to Islam

Security has been reviewed at British embassies and consulates amid fears that extremists and Al Qaeda-linked groups will try to fan the flames.

In Tehran, groups chanting anti-US and anti-Israel slogans staged a protest outside the Swiss embassy which represents US interests in Iran. 

Afghan President Hamid Karzai postponed a planned visit to Norway, fearing violence could erupt in his country.

And in Iraq, demonstrations spread from Baghdad to the second city of Basra with the leader of one Islamist militia warning the film ‘will put all American interests in danger’. 

In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood has called for nationwide protests today to denounce the film.

Time for action: Yemeni protesters break windows of the U.S. embassy

Enemy: A Yemeni protester, center, destroys an American flag pulled down as other hold a banner in Arabic that reads, 'any one but you God's prophet at the U.S. Embassy

Down with this: With the U.S. enemy number one in Yemen, Britain is worried for its diplomats after the murder of am American official

War zone: Today's protests in Sanaa have worried Britain who may be forced to withdraw its democrats from the Middle East

March: Some 500 Iranian Islamists gather in front of the US interest section within the Swiss embassy in Tehran to protest against an anti-Islam film

The murder of Christopher Stevens, pictured, who died alongside three other US embassy officials, cannot be written off as an isolated incident

There were reports last night that the US had deployed drones to Libya to hunt down those responsible for the deaths of ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans in the US consulate at Benghazi on Tuesday.

Such a move would be seen as hugely provocative because similar methods targeting Al Qaeda and other terror suspects are said to have killed innocent civilians in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Yemen.

Libyan authorities said last night that they had made several arrests over the embassy outrage.

The US embassy compound in Yemen’s capital Sanaa was stormed by up to 5,000 protesters chanting ‘Death to America’ and angered by the American-made film portraying the Prophet Mohammed as an adulterous psychopath and fraud.

They breached the usually tight security around the embassy and reached the compound grounds but did not enter the main building because Yemeni security forces drove them back. 

Others held aloft banners declaring ‘Allah is Greatest’ while tyres blazed outside the compound and fanatics scaled the walls. At one point shots were fired.

Yemen is home to Al Qaeda’s most active branch and the US is the main foreign supporter of the Yemeni government’s counter- terrorism campaign.

Up to 70 were injured in a third day of protests yesterday at the US embassy in Cairo with some demonstrators demanding the ambassador’s expulsion. 

Police fired tear gas at crowds throwing stones.

Protest: Iranian demonstrators in Tehran burn the US flag during a protest against the film mocking Islam

Vocal: Up to 500 people protested in Tehran over the anti-Islam film made in the United States, chanting "Death to America!" and death to the movie's director

Thankful: The rally, near the Swiss embassy that handles US interests in the absence of US-Iran diplomatic ties, ended peacefully

Trouble spreading: Egyptian protesters throw stones next to a burning police car during clashes near the U.S. embassy in Cairo

Fearing the worst: An Egyptian protester protects himself during clashes near the U.S. embassy.