LIBYA: 1 AMERICAN DEAD, 1 WOUNDED AT MISSION

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http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ML_LIBYA_ATTACK?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-09-11-21-51-38

TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) -- A Libyan security official says one American consulate employee has been shot dead and another wounded in the hand during an attack at the U.S. consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi.

Wanis al-Sharef, an interior ministry official in Benghazi, said the two were shot at the consulate during an attack by armed men who stormed the building. He provided no further details.

The angry protest at the consulate Tuesday was sparked by outrage over a film produced by an American in California and promoted by an extreme anti-Muslim Egyptian Christian campaigner in the United States attacking Islam's Prophet Muhammad.

Witnesses said the armed men set fire to the consulate and fired shots into the air, burning much of the build.

[Behind the Aegis]

1. U.S. ambassador to Libya, three staff killed in rocket attack

(Reuters) - The U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other embassy staff were killed in a rocket attack on Tuesday in the Libyan city of Benghazi, a Libyan official said.

It was not clear if the ambassador was in his car or the Libyan consulate when the attack occurred.

"The Libyan ambassador and three staff members were killed when gunmen fired rockets at them," the official in Benghazi told Reuters.

(Reporting by Samia Nakhoul, editing by Diana Abdallah)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/12/us-libya-usa-attack-idUSBRE88B0EI20120912

[Bonobo]

2. This is why "arming the virtuous rebels" is idiotic. nt

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3. +1

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4. I hope this is the end of it. This is senseless. eom

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5. Its four dead

The ambassador was said to be among four US officials killed in a protest over a US-produced film that is said to insult the Prophet Muhammad.

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Protesters over the film have also attacked the US embassy in Cairo.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-19570254

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6. +1

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7. 'US ambassador killed' in Libya protest - live updates

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middle-east-live/2012/sep/12/libya-egypt-attacks-muhammad-film-live


The blaze at the US consulate in Benghazi after it was attacked by an armed group on September 11, 2012. Photograph: Reuters/Esam Al-Fetori Photograph: ESAM OMRAN AL-FETORI/REUTERS

3m ago

Ambassador's bodyguards also reported killed
Al-Jazeera has some more details of the consulate attack:

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.

The bodies of the dead were transported to the Benghazi international airport, to be flown to Tripoli and then onwards to a major US airbase in Germany.

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8. Benghazi. Wasn't that the place that was full of "rag-tag heroes"?