The US ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, has died
from smoke inhalation in an attack on the US consulate in the eastern Libyan
city of Benghazi, security sources have told Al Jazeera.
An armed mob attacked and set fire to the building in a
protest against an amateur film deemed offensive to Islam's Prophet Muhammad,
after similar protests in Egypt's capital.
The ambassador was paying a short visit to Benghazi when the
consulate came under attack on Tuesday night, Al Jazeera's Suleiman Idrissi
reported from the eastern Libyan city.
He died of suffocation during the attack, along with two US
security personnel who were accompanying him, security sources told Al Jazeera.
Another consulate employee, whose nationality could not immediately be
confirmed, was also killed.Two other staffers were injured, Idrissi reported.
"There [were] fierce clashes between the Libyan army
and an armed militia outside the US consulate," he said. He also said
roads had been closed off and security forces surrounded the building. A group calling themselves the 'Islamic law supporters'
carried out the attack in response to the relaese of the film, Al Jazeera's
Idrissi reported.
Just hours earlier on Tuesday, thousands of Egyptian
demonstrators apparently angry over the same film – a video produced by
expatriate members of Egypt's Coptic community resident in the US – tore down
the Stars and Stripes at the US embassy in Cairo and replaced it with a black
Islamic flag.
The two incidents came on the 11th anniversary of the
September 11, 2001, attacks in the US.
"Some have sought to justify this vicious behaviour as
a response to inflammatory material posted on the internet," said a
statement by Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, who also confirmed the
death of the consulate employee.
"The United States deplores any intentional effort to
denigrate the religious beliefs of others," she said.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.