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http://www.france24.com/en/20120912-...on-film-pastor
Latest update: 12/09/2012
The US ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three embassy officials have been killed in a rocket attack in Benghazi, according to reports on Wednesday. The US State Department has so far neither confirmed nor denied the reports.
The reports come after the US consulate in Benghazi was attacked by protesters outraged over a US film deemed to ridicule Islam’s Prophet Muhammad.
According to the Libyan official who spoke to Reuters, Ambassador Stevens and his colleagues had fled the consulate and were trying to reach a safer location when the car they were travelling in was hit by a rocket.
FRANCE 24’s Catherine Norris-Trent, reporting from the Libyan capital Tripoli, contacted a spokesman for the General National Congress who also confirmed the deaths.
“The death of the US diplomat was confirmed to us a short while ago by the spokesman, who hinted that the death toll may be more than four,” reported Norris-Trent.
“The officials are clearly shaken up and they are in crisis talks right now trying to deal with this unforeseen event.”
Ambassador Stevens death was immediately condemned by Libya’s deputy Prime Minister Mustafa Abushagur. Writing on Twitter, he described it as a “cowardly act”.
“I condemn these barbaric acts in the strongest possible terms. This is an attack on America, Libya and free people everywhere,” he added.
[..]
Witnesses in Benghazi reported seeing attackers firing automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades at the consulate as they clashed with Libyans hired to guard the facility. Wanis al-Sharef, an Interior Ministry official in Benghazi said security staff did little to protect the compound after being heavily outnumbered by the mob.
In Benghazi, Reuters reported looters raiding the empty U.S. consulate’s compound, walking off with desks, chairs and washing machines.
[..]
The protests in both countries were sparked by outrage over the film “Innocence of Muslims” which ridicules the Prophet Muhammad. The movie was made by American Israeli Sam Becile, a 52-year-old real-estate developer from California who told the Wall Street Journal that “Islam is a cancer”.
Excerpts from the film, which has been dubbed into Arabic, were posted on YouTube. It depicts Mohammad as a philanderer who approved of child sex abuse and contains other insulting claims.
Terry Jones, the controversial Christian pastor who triggered riots in Afghanistan in 2010 by threatening to burn the Koran, has been involved in promoting the film.
Associated Press reported that Becile had gone into hiding in the wake of the attacks and blamed lax security for the death of the state department official at the consulate.
Latest update: 12/09/2012
The US ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three embassy officials have been killed in a rocket attack in Benghazi, according to reports on Wednesday. The US State Department has so far neither confirmed nor denied the reports.
The reports come after the US consulate in Benghazi was attacked by protesters outraged over a US film deemed to ridicule Islam’s Prophet Muhammad.
According to the Libyan official who spoke to Reuters, Ambassador Stevens and his colleagues had fled the consulate and were trying to reach a safer location when the car they were travelling in was hit by a rocket.
FRANCE 24’s Catherine Norris-Trent, reporting from the Libyan capital Tripoli, contacted a spokesman for the General National Congress who also confirmed the deaths.
“The death of the US diplomat was confirmed to us a short while ago by the spokesman, who hinted that the death toll may be more than four,” reported Norris-Trent.
“The officials are clearly shaken up and they are in crisis talks right now trying to deal with this unforeseen event.”
Ambassador Stevens death was immediately condemned by Libya’s deputy Prime Minister Mustafa Abushagur. Writing on Twitter, he described it as a “cowardly act”.
“I condemn these barbaric acts in the strongest possible terms. This is an attack on America, Libya and free people everywhere,” he added.
[..]
Witnesses in Benghazi reported seeing attackers firing automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades at the consulate as they clashed with Libyans hired to guard the facility. Wanis al-Sharef, an Interior Ministry official in Benghazi said security staff did little to protect the compound after being heavily outnumbered by the mob.
In Benghazi, Reuters reported looters raiding the empty U.S. consulate’s compound, walking off with desks, chairs and washing machines.
[..]
The protests in both countries were sparked by outrage over the film “Innocence of Muslims” which ridicules the Prophet Muhammad. The movie was made by American Israeli Sam Becile, a 52-year-old real-estate developer from California who told the Wall Street Journal that “Islam is a cancer”.
Excerpts from the film, which has been dubbed into Arabic, were posted on YouTube. It depicts Mohammad as a philanderer who approved of child sex abuse and contains other insulting claims.
Terry Jones, the controversial Christian pastor who triggered riots in Afghanistan in 2010 by threatening to burn the Koran, has been involved in promoting the film.
Associated Press reported that Becile had gone into hiding in the wake of the attacks and blamed lax security for the death of the state department official at the consulate.
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