US ambassador to Libya John Christopher Stevens is seen in Washington in March. Stevens and three officials were killed when a mob attacked the US consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi, the interior ministry said Wednesday. "The ambassador was killed along with three other officials," said Wanis al-Sharif, the deputy minister of the interior. © Mandel Ngan - AFP/File US ambassador killed as Libyan Islamists storm embassy America's ambassador to Libya and three officials were killed when a mob attacked the US consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi to protest a film deemed offensive to Islam, an official said September12.
John Christopher Stevens died
when a mob attacked
the US embassy in Libya
"The ambassador was killed along with three other officials," said Wanis al-Sharif, the deputy minister of the interior.
Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens' death in September11's attack was confirmed in a tweet by Mustafa Abu Shagur, the deputy Prime Minister.
"I condemn these barbaric acts in the strongest possible terms. This is an attack on America, Libya and free people everywhere," Shagur said in a separate tweet.
Stevens, a career officer with the US foreign service, had been in the country for less than four months after taking up his post in the capital Tripoli in May.
Fawzi Wanis, who heads the High Security Commission in Benghazi, confirmed that Stevens was at the consulate when it was attacked.
Another security source in the city -- cradle of the 2011 uprising that toppled the regime of late dictator Moamer Kadhafi -- speculated that the envoy may have suffocated because of carbon monoxide poisoning.
The envoy died when the consulate was attacked by an armed mob protesting against the film, which according according to the Wall Street Journal was made by an Israeli-American who describes Islam as a "cancer" and depicts the Prophet Mohammed sleeping with women.
The attack came just hours after Islamists also stormed Washington's embassy in the Egyptian capital Cairo in a similar protest against the movie.
Before confirmation of Stevens' death, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced that a State Department official had been killed in the attack on the consulate, saying: "We are heartbroken by this terrible loss."
Witnesses said the attackers ripped up a US flag, then looted the consulate before setting it on fire on the eleventh anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
The witnesses claimed the attackers then set the building on fire after it was badly damaged by home-made bombs and the grenades.
"Dozens of demonstrators attacked the consulate and set fire to it," said a Benghazi resident, who only gave his name as Omar, adding that he had seen the flames and heard shots in the vicinity.
Another Libyan witness said armed men, including ultra-conservative Salafists, had closed the streets leading up to the consulate.
The violent protest was strongly condemned by Libya's General National Congress, which in a statement expressed "outrage at the unfortunate attack against the American consulate in Benghazi."
The Libyan incident came after thousands of Egyptian demonstrators Tuesday tore down the Stars and Stripes at the US embassy in Cairo and replaced it with a black Islamic flag, similar to one adopted by several militant groups.Nearly 3,000 demonstrators, most of them hardline Islamist supporters of the Salafist movement, gathered at the embassy in protest over the film, which was produced in the United States.
A dozen men scaled the embassy walls and one of them tore down the US flag, replacing it with a black one inscribed with the Muslim profession of faith: "There is no God but God and Mohammed is the prophet of God."
Egyptian police intervened without resort to force and persuaded the trespassers to come down. The crowd then largely dispersed leaving just a few hundred protesters outside the US mission, an AFP correspondent reported.
An Egyptian security official said on Wednesday that security has been stepped up in the area around the US embassy in Cairo following the protests.
"There is an increased security presence in central Cairo, particularly around the American embassy," the official told AFP, adding that no arrests had been made during Tuesday's demonstration.
Coptic activists said they would stage a vigil on Wednesday in protest against the film.
The Maspero Youth Union (MYU) and the Coalition of Coptic Egypt condemned "all sorts of contempt or disdain against any religion, as well as to the sowing of sedition between people who embrace different religions," the statement said.
The movie, "Innocence of Muslims," was directed and produced by Sam Bacile, a 52-year-old real-estate developer from southern California.
"Islam is a cancer," Bacile told the Wall Street Journal of his crudely-produced film, which depicts the Prophet Mohammed variously sleeping with women, talking about killing children and referring to a donkey as "the first Muslim animal."
The film is being promoted by controversial Florida pastor Terry Jones, who has drawn protests in the past for burning the Koran and vehemently opposing the construction of a mosque near Ground Zero in New York.
In Washington, Clinton said she had spoken with Libyan leader Mohamed al-Megaryef to coordinate extra support to help protect Americans working in Libya, and he had pledged his full cooperation.
"In light of the events of today, the United States government is working with partner countries around the world to protect our personnel, our missions, and American citizens worldwide," Clinton said.
Libya's General National Congress (GNC), the country's highest political authority, met late on Tuesday after the consulate attack, a government source said.
The country's military chief of staff, Yussef al-Mangush, also cut short a visit to Turkey to return to Tripoli, the same source said.
Sept 11,2012's protests came on the eleventh anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001, when US cities were targeted by hijacked planes.
Benghazi, a stronghold of Islamist extremists and cradle of the revolution that saw strongman Moamer Kadhafi captured and killed last year, has seen a wave of violence in recent months, including attacks on Western targets, bombings of military buildings and the killings of army and security officers.
Interior Minister Fawzi Abdelali has warned that Islamists amount to a "major force" in Libya both in terms of numbers and arms.
A LIFE SKETCH OF STEVENS
Born in April 1960 and raised in northern California, Chris Stevens earned his undergraduate degree at the University of California at Berkeley in 1982, a JD from the University of California’s Hastings College of Law in 1989, and an M.S. in National Security Studies from the National War College in 2010. He was also a Peace Corps Volunteer, teaching English in Morocco from 1983 to 1985.
Prior to joining the Foreign Service in 1991, Stevens practiced international trade law in Washington, DC, for several years. At the State Department, Stevens’ early career foreign postings focused on the Middle East, including service as consular and economic officer at the embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; consular and political officer in Cairo, Egypt; political officer in Damascus, Syria; and deputy principal officer and political section chief at the consulate in Jerusalem, Israel.At the State Department in Washington, Stevens has served as a staff assistant in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs (1996), Iran desk officer, and special assistant to the under secretary for political affairs. From late 2006 to May 2007, Stevens was on detail as a Pearson Fellow to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where he served as minority staff advisor on Middle East affairs, reporting to Senator Richard Lugar (R-Indiana).
In June 2007, Stevens was posted for the first time to Libya, serving as deputy chief of mission and later as chargé d’affaires at the embassy in Tripoli until 2009, when he was named director of the Office of Multilateral Nuclear and Security Affairs. In August 2008, in a diplomatic cable leaked by WikiLeaks in 2011, Stevens attempted to prepare Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for her upcoming visit with Gadhafi, describing him as a “notoriously mercurial” man who “often avoids making eye contact during the initial portion of meetings, and there may be long, uncomfortable periods of silence.
Alternatively, he can be an engaging and charming interlocutor.” It was during this visit that Gadhafi revealed his romantic crush on Rice, which she has since described as “weird and a bit creepy.” Indeed, Stevens had warned Rice, “A self-styled intellectual and philosopher, he has been eagerly anticipating for several years the opportunity to share with you his views on global affairs.”
For his second tour in Libya, Stevens was sent to rebel headquarters in Benghazi, Libya, to serve as special representative to the Libyan Transitional National Council. He arrived on a Greek cargo ship on April 5, 2011 and stayed until November. His mission was to forge stronger links with the Interim Transitional National Council, and gain a better understanding of the various factions fighting the Gadhafi regime. His reports back to Washington were said to have encouraged the U.S. to support the rebel council, which the Obama administration did formally in July 2011
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