A member of the Senate intelligence committee on Wednesday raised the possibility that attacks on U.S. diplomatic missions in the Middle East and North Africa this week were connected to al Qaeda.

Sen. Bill Nelson, Florida Democrat, said the attacks “have the markings of revenge by al Qaeda.” He said they could be connected to the killing in June of Abu Yahya al-Libi, a top leader of the terrorist network.

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“In light of Monday night’s Internet-video statement by the head of al Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, who urged Libyans to attack Americans to avenge the recent death of al-Libi, I am asking my colleagues on the Senate intelligence committee to immediately investigate what role al Qaeda or its affiliates may have played in the attacks in Libya and Egypt, and to urge appropriate action,” Mr. Nelson said in a statement.

Both the U.S. Embassy in Cairo and the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, which is Libya’s second-largest city, were attacked on Tuesday, with the Libyan incident claiming the lives of four Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens.