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The U.S. ambassador to Libya died as Libya militants stormed the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.
Stevens, who was a career member of the Senior Foreign Service and
served two tours of duty in Libya, was nominated by President Obama to
be ambassador to Libya early this year. His term of appointment as
ambassador to Libya began on May 22.
Anger over the film that some believe insults the Prophet Muhammad also
provoked protests in Cairo Tuesday, where demonstrators climbed the
walls of the U.S. embassy, took down the American flag and replaced it
with a black flag.
A senior U.S. senior official told ABC News they are on alert throughout
the region and fear there could be more attacks to come. One of the
American State Department employees likely died of smoke inhalation
Tuesday from the fire at the consulate, according to the U.S official.
The death of the second employee was confirmed Wednesday, according to
the U.S. official. There is no word yet on how that employee died.
There were about 20 attackers with small arms who stormed the consulate.
There was a firefight with Libyan security officers guarding the
consulate, according to the U.S. official. One of the buildings was
completely destroyed by fire set by the militants.
The group that attacked the consulate is called Ansar al Sharia,
according to Libyan sources. The group has claimed responsibility for
the attack, but did not mention the movie as motivation. The group is
close to al Qaeda ideology and exists in east Libya.
"I condemn in the strongest terms the attack on our mission in Benghazi
today," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a statement released
Tuesday night. "As we work to secure our personnel and facilities, we
have confirmed that one of our State Department officers was killed. We
are heartbroken by this terrible loss. Our thoughts and prayers are with
his family and those who have suffered in this attack."
Libyan President Mohammed Yussef Magariaf promised to coordinate
additional support to protect Americans in the country, condemned the
assault on the embassy and pledged his government's full cooperation,
Clinton said.
In Cairo, dozens of protesters scaled the embassy walls and took down
the flag from a pole in the courtyard. After trying unsuccessfully to
burn it, they ripped it apart and replaced it with a black flag bearing
Arabic writing. Reports that the black flag was from al Qaeda were not
confirmed.
Victoria Nuland, a State Department spokeswoman, said today the United
States was working with Egyptian security to restore order.
"This came up pretty quickly," she said. "[It was a] relatively modest
group of people and the Egyptian security was caught off guard."
David Linfield, an embassy spokesman, said that no guns were involved.
"No one fired," he said.
According to The Atlantic,
the Wall Street Journal and Egyptian media, the movie is called
"Mohammed, Prophet of the Muslims" and has been promoted by Terry Jones,
the controversial Florida preacher whose Koran burning in March 2010
led to the deadly violence in Afghanistan.
Jones said Tuesday in a statement that the film was actually titled
"Innocence of Muslims" and was intended not to attack Muslims but to
show the "destructive ideology of Islam."
"The movie further reveals in a satirical fashion the life of Muhammad," he said.
Egyptian media also reported that two Egyptians from the Christian
minority Coptic group had helped with the movie. Clips in Arabic and
English have been released on YouTube.
In a statement Tuesday, the U.S. embassy said it condemned "the
continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious
feelings of Muslims."
Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential candidate, jumped on the
embassy's statement with one of his own.
"I'm outraged by the attacks on American diplomatic missions in Libya
and Egypt and by the death of an American consulate worker in Benghazi,"
he said. "It's disgraceful that the Obama administration's first
response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to
sympathize with those who waged the attacks."
Clinton said anger over a movie is no excuse for violence.
"Some have sought to justify this vicious behavior as a response to
inflammatory material posted on the Internet," she said. "The United
States deplores any intentional effort to denigrate the religious
beliefs of others. Our commitment to religious tolerance goes back to
the very beginning of our nation. But let me be clear: There is never
any justification for violent acts of this kind."
ABC News' Martha Raddatz and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
