"The American ambassador and three staff members were killed when gunmen fired rockets at them," the official in Benghazi told Reuters. Asked about the deaths, a US Embassy employee in Tripoli said: "We have no information regarding this." The employee said the embassy could confirm the death of one person.
The Libyan official said the US ambassador had been on his way to a safer venue after protesters attacked the US Consulate in Benghazi and opened fire, killing a staff member, in protest at a US film that they deemed blasphemous to the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).
The official said the ambassador and three other staff were killed when gunmen fired rockets at his car. He said the US Embassy had sent a military plane to transport the bodies to Tripoli to fly them to the United States.
Gunmen assaulted the Benghazi compound on Tuesday evening, clashing with Libyan security forces, who withdrew under heavy fire. The attackers fired at the buildings while others threw handmade bombs into the compound, setting off small explosions. Small fires were burning around the compound.
The assault followed a protest in neighbouring Egypt where demonstrators scaled the walls of the US embassy, tore down the American flag and burned it during a protest over the same film which they said insulted the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).
‘Gaddafi loyalists killed US diplomats’
A senior Libyan official accused supporters of the late Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi of carrying out an attack that killed the US ambassador to Libya and three other Americans in Benghazi.
Deputy Interior Minister Wanis al-Sharif told a news conference in Benghazi that the attackers had used rocket-propelled grenades.
"There were RPGs...which shows there were forces exploiting this. They are remnants of the (former) regime," he said. The news conference was broadcast on Al Jazeera television.
He suggested that the attackers could have been acting in revenge for the extradition from Mauritania this month of Qaddafi's former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senoussi.
Qaddafi was ousted by rebel forces backed by Nato air power in August 2011 and was killed in October after months as a fugitive.
COMMENTS (95)
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@Umer: OK, add Gojra too, where Christians killed a Hindu social worker
@ A. J.Khan , Well Godhara episode is justified . The anti American and Anti Israel feelings are responsible for lt . Those responsible must be punished .
@imkhalid: shame on your radical thinking.
@surely watching:
All pls add Bill Maher's Riligulous http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0815241/ to the must watch list. It is mostly against Christianity, LDS and Scientology.
No need to thank me, just enjoy and spread. ..p
@Colleen: Agreed 100%, but unfortunately there are a lot of people in this world who will not buy your argument , though deep inside their heart they will agree that what you said is true....
I don't get why people are celebrating the death of some poor guy doing his job. Did he make the video?? Yes maybe he represented America but how can the loss of someone's son or father be a win for Islam especially since he had nothing to do with the video incident.
@BlackJack: WHO
The Dead Americans consider themselves lucky that they did not meet the same TREATMENT as Qadaffi before death!
@Colleen,
The question you should be asking the american people is that whether they want to use their freedom of speech to put their countrymen and other innocent people in harm's way. I hate violence of any kind but in this world there is are clear double standards as to what you can say behind the shield of free speech. It so appears that free speech applies more to degrading the habits, culture, beliefs and lifestyles of the world's 1.5 billion muslims. How about having a debate on Israel's human rights record and the the ghetto that it runs known as the Palestinian territories. Why not talk about the holocaust? Thats ofcourse a no-no for the american people because its 'anti-semitic'. Have the courtesy at least of extending the same liberties to other people that you westerners have come to expect from the rest of the world. How is Julian Assange not allowed to speak freely and concocted cases against him are brought up. Do you remember Secretary of State Colin Powell complaining about Al Jazeera new because the US govt thought it was partial towards the insurgents in Iraq?
You cant have your cake and eat it too. So the best would be to just sit together and agree on mutually acceptable red lines.
Americans should understand by now that helping muslims is like feeding snakes. Tey will bite you at the first opportunity
@ Yasser...
So by your logic, the man who made this "film" is actually only trying to commit suicide because he MUST know that in certain countries (but not his own, where we have free speech/expression rights) that blasphemy of the Prophet is penalized by death? Do I have that straight? The problem with that is, that the man who made the film isn't the one who was killed, the problem is that 4 INNOCENT people who had nothing to do with this movie at all were murdered. What should then happen to those people who killed the Ambassador and others? Should they be exhaulted because they killed some annoying Americans or should they be punished for murder in cold blood? And while you're free to state basically that the Americans' got what they deserved, why is the man who made the movie not free to state his beliefs? Is it because his beliefs offend you? Your statement that the Americans deserved it, offends me but I'm certainly not going to sit here and wish harm or violence upon you or your countrymen. We have a saying about free speech here, I may not like what you say, but I will defend you to the death your right to say it...
@John B:
You wrote - "Muslims can make a movie against Jews (which apparently is a regular feature in middle east) or Christians (many have been made)"
Show us just one movie Muslims have made that mock or ridicule any Prophets of the both Jewish and Christian religion!
@Lala Gee: So Libya wasn't part of the Arab Spring, to toss out unelected dictators who thought they owned the country! The freedoms that swept through Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt had nothing to do with "religious extremists" and Al-Qaida elements! I would wonder how many Libyans would want "THE COLONEL" back under any circumstances. By the way, just what do you think is going on in Syria now?
Freedom of expression laws are higly absurd as it carries relegious discreminations. Blasphemious contents against muslims are encoureged under this law where the not agreeing on the so called Holocaust is a crime. Know by saying this, my comments could be disapproved by ET. Coming to point, there are death penalties on various crimes in the whole world. In Islam, blasphemy of Prophet Muhammad (saw) by law equal for muslims and non-muslims is penalized with death sentence which had been made clear since long. So I believe Americans, who already knew these laws, only tried to commit suicide by doing such act and rightly deserved upon what they did. Those who are involved must be penalized.
@A J Khan: Cry what you may, I would rather stand by the right of the film maker to make a fool of himself than by the right of the violent thugs to protest.
In your own words, Islam calls Christ as prophet which is blasphemy against the Christian belief. But do you see them killing Muslims in Egypt or elsewhere?
Liberty of thought and action is the only condition of life, of growth and well-being. Where it does not exist, the man, the race, the nation must go.' -Vivekananda.
Call it a coincidence but I just finished reading chapter 2 titled 'Religion kills ' in Christopher Hitchens book ' god is not that Great '. Hard to disagree with him.
@Colleen: I agree with you. But reasoning with some people does not help. They would not understand that language because they have their own agendas. These are paid hooligans. The person at the top needs to be tackled. And believe you me once the funds dry up they will resort to robbery, theft and other kinds of crime.
here, many are trying to justify claiming that there was provocation.
so, why bring gujarat, when the provocation was to the tune of 58 charred bodies.
I am truly shocked to see some of the comments on here approving the actions of those who murdered 4 innocent people. I understand that speaking against the Prophet is bad, however in the US it's also perfectly legal for the man to make a movie about his beliefs. Strongly condemn the man for his movie, speak out against him, tell him to take it down, whatever makes you feel better but it's certainly no reason to kill 4 people who weren't at all involved with the making of said movie. What would the outcome have been had there been more people at the embassy in Lybia, would they have been killed as well? What about in Egypt if those at the embassy hadn't left beforehand? Would they be dead as well for something that they had no hand in?
I've seen plenty of times on the news the American flag burned or torn apart and frankly that hurts my feelings since this is my country and I'm proud of it, however you won't find me going to the nearest foreign office of that country and burning that flag and storming the walls. I believe in free speech even if I don't agree with it. I may not like it and I may not respect anyone who will disgrace my flag, but I certainly won't do anything to harm them.
This man who made this movie made it to make people angry and to get a reaction and he certainly got one. All of those angry people fed right into his hands and now innocent people are dead and the country in an uproar because people didn't think before they reacted.
Earlier I thought that this movie will have just visual depiction of the Holy Prophet. I was totally wrong. I just saw a 13 minute clip of this movie. It is insulting, vulgar and profane to the extreme. I absolutely condemn it. I would suggest Muslims not to see this movie or video clip. Sure there will be many violent protests in many countries across the world. I
Pakistan must stop the Karachi to Kabul transit for US/Nato Supplies ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ in response to this shameful movie.
"The film cost $ 5million which was donated by 100 jews in America according to New York Times." +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ So dear Muslims collect 50 Mn USD and make a powerful film re the peaceful nature of Islam. Give it to the Israelis!
" ... Please stop blaming America for this tragedy. The film was made by an Israeli, Mr. Bacile, who lives in California but is an Israeli citizen ... "
Uh oh - you guys burnt the wrong flag.
@Awans:
Have the movie makers burnt any Muslims or Mosques like Christians, Bibles and Churches were burnt in Gojra? I can't see the comparison. It’s OK to do whatever in the Islamic Republic but not elsewhere? Seems to me Islamists like to dictate people both where they are majority and where they are minority. Hard to sympathise with this mentality.
@Javed Afridi:
Tell that to Gojra victims.
@Cautious: And it was right for CIA to kidnap and kill heads of states not aligned with USA policies in South America?
The U.S. government had absolutely nothing to do with the film in question. As Secretary Clinton said in a statement released this morning: “Some have sought to justify this vicious behavior as a response to inflammatory material posted on the Internet. 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.”
Capt. Joseph Kreidel DET-United States Central Command www.centcom.mil/ur
Supporters of blasphemy law should get used to even more insults. The only solution is secularism and eradication of barbaric, oppressive and insulting laws like Blasphemy law to avoid inciting others. The more incitement there would be through blasphemy law and oppression in the Islamic Republic and other mullah countries the more the world would respond in kind. Mullahs are responsible for all this incitement and they should be held responsible for such retaliations by the world.
@Cautious: In a civilized society, your freedom to move your arm seizes when it reaches my nose. we would love to continue being alien to such rights that flourish on bringing disgrace to others.
Please stop blaming America for this tragedy. The film was made by an Israeli, Mr. Bacile, who lives in California but is an Israeli citizen. The film cost $ 5million which was donated by 100 jews in America according to New York Times. It is an attempt by Israelis and their right wing cohorts to incite perpetual war between Muslims and USA. The film, from reading the press, is very provocative and deliberately designed to provoke muslims by heaping insults on Islam and the prophet(PBUH). American government has nothing to do with the film. Killing the ambassador and other embassy staff is not justified. The proper response should be to make film insulting Israel, America, UK and whosoever we want and put it on UTube, write books and articles in the leading American, British newspapers. The violence always put focus on Muslims behaviour rather than the provocateurs. Razia Iqbal, on BBC Radio, focused entirely on Libyan violence and didn't have a single question about the film and its propagandistic nature. Clearly, western media will rub the salt in the wounds if given the opportunity. The method of response to these provocations need to change. Give them their own medicine.
@John B: Are you sure you can express similar views in USA which falls under the perview of Anti Sematic Laws.??? Muslims believe in The Prophet hood of Moses and Christ, so there is no question passing any remarks against them as it will be against their own belief. So you want to provoke in the name of freedom to insult. Please go ahead. Keep doing it. Till the time your venom exhaust.
@Hafeez: Is criticism of Islam or any other religion allowed or not? Frankly, nowadays it doesn't take much to 'hurt' the 'feelings' of millions.
@Iqbal: Partially I agree with you but there is anti sematic law also which call for restrictions when it comes to write against certain religon.
It is so disgusting movie against our Holy Prophet, the American who made this clip has a dirty mind, he has shown all the evils that prevail in their society and they feel proud of it by calling it so called "Liberty". Kindly have a look at the clip by dirty Americans.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_wTvx6-ok4
@Abdullah:
Let's return the F16s for a start.
There are fundamental differences between Islam and other religions. Followers of other religions want their God to love them but Muslims love or want to love their God. This automatically leads to their thinking that they want to protect their God whereas others want their God to protect them. Their desire to protect their God is so intense that they would not like anyone, including themselves, to visualize even his messengers in any form. They should be unknown in any physical form and remain a mystery. Do not know if this takes them closer to their God or distances them from their God's teachings.
With 2 million dollars, the film makers gained publicity for their film and ideology which not many film makers ever got. Whether it is postive or negative publicity, publicity is publicity and they won. Muslims always fall for such tricks. It could have been a film which went unwatched or watched by a few and ignored. Now the entire world will view it and some will believe it. The film makers were able to provide concrete evidence that followers of islam are mostly violent. Christians learned a lesson with Dan Brown's novel DaVinci Code. The catholic church condemned it and the book became one of the top sellers. When the next book came out, the church paid no attention. Angels and demons hardly got so much attention as DaVinci code. So church learned that more attention or condemnation you give, more attention the book/film gets. When will muslims learn this? Do you think all this outrage will stop people from creating films/books with different ideologies? This will infuriate another group of people who will deliberately write books just to show their freedom of speech and insult muslims.
@Umer: Yes I have seen the Movie Trailer and Trailer is enough to incite hatred. It is not a mere rumour but trailor is easily available where same indian trolls are available by rambling against one religion.
@cruiser: shame on you and on all of you who celebrate any innocent human being's life. I don't expect any better from the people of Pakistan who are blindfolded by the hatred.
Your freedom ends where my nose begins. Killing ambassadors and civilians is not supported by Islam. The best way forward would be for all the muslim countries to voice their concerns at UN and get some resolution passed against hurting billions of peoples around the world.
@Awans: You may believe your religion to be true, but others don't. Everyone has the right to freedom of speech. Of course, Muslims generally don't understand this concept. This is one of biggest problems of any religion which professes itself to be the sole and ultimate truth.
I would seriously like to know: does anyone, anyone at all have the right to criticize Islam, or is everyone who tries be killed or scared into hiding?
I fear USA will use this development as an excuse to attack Libya............
@Yuri Kondratyuk:
Do you mean Godhra where Muslims burnt 50/60 Hindus and instigated the riots? Or did you mean Gojra where Christians were burnt alive?
Welcome to free libya my dear Americans :)
@Haroon Usman: @Nadeem: I understand your anger and even i would have reacted in similar manner if our deities would have been depicted in this filthy way. I have seen the videos and yes indeed it is very provocative, outrageous rather, simply too cheap and lowly. We can never support such a depiction of any great leader of the world and more so for the Prophet. It was completely uncalled for. Further no Indian can ever justify Gujrat massacre. Any Indian would be ashamed for that. But the point is that the ambassador of US had nothing to do with the filming of that filthy film. He was at least innocent in this crime. Kangaroo court or eye for an eye can be the system of justice for the medieval period and not in the society of 21st century.If any one in this whole issue deserved to be punished it is the writer, director and producer, Sam Bacile and definitely not the US ambassador.
Now this is a must watch film.....
Muslims need to grow a thicker skin. There are plenty of lunatics who will incite such reactions. It is the oldest trick in the book and Muslims fall for it every single time. When will they learn to ignore such nonsense? This only makes Islam look bad. I don't think the religion is so weak that humans need to defend it.
this is zionist action against muslims. we have to boycott USA products
Has anyone actually seen the movie? Unlikely. Yet they will happily burn and kill people on mere rumours. Who would respect these people and the religion ideology they stand for?
peace in peaceful people
The person/ group responsible for the attack on US ambassador will not be spared and can not escape.. there shall be immense pressure on the LIbyan government/regime by US and also European countries to ensure the arrest of the culprits/ groups. Even if the person/s concerned are arrested and punished there is every possibility that Muslims i having extremist mindset will justify the killings of the ambassador and rally in respective countries including Pakistan. This incident will be the reason of further cementing the belief that followers of Islam are most intolerant and Islam is a religion to be feared. Muslim immigrants in west will be under stricter check . Even if the film has hurt the feelings of Muslims how on earth the Us ambassador is responsible for it. how he is connected to the film which was produced long ago except the religion of the producer.
@A J Khan: "The man who masterminded the provocation of muslims should be taken to task by the US courts. He is in fact responsible for these deaths and destruction." Please note US is NOT called "the Islamic Republic of United States of America". It practises free speech and their constitution allows him or her to express their views. That is why it is one of the most succesful countries in the World and to which Pakistan goes with a begging bowl. For once, think.
@imkhalid: yep! just like Babri and Godhra.
@A J Khan: "The man who masterminded the provocation of muslims should be taken to task by the US courts. He is in fact responsible for these deaths and destruction"
You cannot hold me responsible if you start cutting your own wrists over something I said. I find your comment offensive. Does that mean you should be punished for my hurt feelings? Of course not.
@Cautious: Freedom of speech is only protected in the US as long as it serves their purpose. You probably dont remember how the police brutalized occupy wall street protesters in New York who were completely non-violent and protesting within the constitution of the united states. Similarly saying anything deemed remotely anti-semitic is not tolerated even though Israel is a mass murdering apartheid state. You probably dont remember the arab students in University of California Irvine who heckled Michael Oren the Israeli ambassador to the US at the time. They were punished by a court for doing that. How is THAT for free speech buddy. Come out of your unidirectional worldview created by the mainstream media. And if you are an Indian (changes are you are going to be as Express tribune is frequented more by Indian trolls than Pakistanis themselves) then just look at the sedition charges filed against Aseem Trivedi. Sorry to burst your bubble about free speech but you do remember the reaction in India to the book written by Jaswant Singh about Mr. Jinnah. He was expelled from the party by BJP. How very tolerant of free speech. Therefore please spare us the holier than thou attitude.
@Cautious: What freedom of speech? Can I criticize Israel without being labelled ? Wake up. As for the mozlums in the U.S, they are harassed every day and every effort is made to ensure they cannot open up a new place of worship. Karma is not a good thing and we have it coming our way very soon. This is nothing compared to what we have done under the guise of just wars and nation building.
i feel sorry and sad for the american diplomat..i think targeting diplomat was not appropriate...however in his murder The lunatic american Israeli director's hand is equally responsible.
US govt. armed anti-Qazzafi forces including former Al-Qaeda members and now the same forces struck back.
As you sow so shall you reap
It is a sorry event. But it is kinda Americans getting taste of their own medicine. Having said that, violence of any kind must be denounced, no matter against whom.
The man who masterminded the provocation of muslims should be taken to task by the US courts. He is in fact responsible for these deaths and destruction.
Strict action is needed on the part of US immediatly .
As You Sow, So Shall You Reap....Hamid H Khan
What America did and especially the dead libya ambassador was fuelling ammunitions and money into the rebels of libya and this ambassador was the point man for all libyan policies from 2007 .So the curse of Gaddafi has befallen on america .They were feeding rattle snakes and now they are bitten .. I wonder will these americans ever learn a lesson before poking their nose in Syria ..and the mega disaster waiting to happen that is IRAN ..I really appreciate Russia ,China in the handling muslims countries where what appears to be good for west which is democracy may not be good for middle east which is tribal.
@Awans: @Lala Gee: "We should condemn such freedom of expression videos where One religion is being constantly targeted on the name of freedom." Is killing the solution? Would it deter people from making movies, write articles or draw cartoons. Or basically express ones opinion? If that is so, then how about Americans bombing every second rally in Pakistan for burning US flag? Would that be the right thing to do? One cannot argue that its not the religion to blame but its followers who interpret it for the religion is how its followers interpret it.
if any one want to see the film pic check at http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/u-s-ambassador-to-libya-three-staffers-killed-in-benghazi-rocket-attack-1.464509
Its another draw back Muslims. its time to show patience . They will do every thing to get Muslims angry and in return we will do the worst and there will be no difference between then and us. we have to to follow the sun ah.
What America did and especially the dead libya ambassador was fuelling ammunitions and money into the rebels of libya and this ambassador was the point man for libyan policies from 2007 and guess what feeding snakes will one day come back to bite.. I wonder will these americans ever learn a lesson before poking their nose in Syria ..Yes also the mega disaster waiting to happen that is IRAN ..I really appreciate Russia ,China in the handling muslims countries where what appears to be good for west which is democracy may not be good for middle east which is tribal.
@Indian Wisdom: How do you justify Gujarat massacre of Muslims in 2002 then.Was it Indian wisdom at it's best then?
A Muslim even with the weakest belief can’t tolerate any thing derogatory against Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), here are the consequences!! A Situation, all Muslim around the world are united regardless of their differences.
@Indian Wisdom: Respect others if you like others to respect you. And do not speak when you do not know the back ground.
@Aryabhat: Egypts gets billions of dollars for zakat from Pakistan every day. US needs to rethink about its policies in Muslim countries.
Dedicated to all those who favored throwing out Qadafi and replace him with a system which actually does not exist. Well hope we learn the lesson that a bad system (say dictatorship) should only be transformed to a better system (say western democracy to some extent) through a proper transit phase.
What happened in so called Arab spring was getting rid of leaders (good or bad but mainly based on sectarian / tribal difference) by killing / throwing them out of power without any back up system to keep the government operational.
Typical anti American blather --- shame on you. By now you should know that freedom of speech is a protected right in America -- so is freedom of religion - two concepts apparently alien to some Pakistani's. Targeting diplomat(s), American or otherwise, is unacceptable by every civilized nation on this planet.
@Lala Gee: Agree with you 100% on this.
It was American who were arming the Free Libyan Army to kill GADDAFI!! Now, Americans themselves killed by those they armed!!
I fear USA will use this development as an excuse to attack Libya.
I hope Americans will learn lesson that supporting Islamists to take over from Dictators is not good for humantiy or civilised norms of behaviour in Middle East!
Just to destroy Libya, the Americans supported Al-Qaida and religious extremists in the uprising against Qaddafi. Now have to bear the consequences of their actions.
@Awans: Timely advice.
@Awans: "as I am very much afraid that this violence could definitely broke in Pakistan in coming days as Promo is enough to incite hatred against Islam worldwide and it is pretty dangerous trend emerging right now."
Do you know what incites dislike against the religion? Violent actions of Muslims worldwide
@peace for all: The seed was planted centuries ago.
As you sow, so shall you reap.
A Minimum Punishment!!
comes around goes around
some happy news after a long time.
Pakistan needs to be very very careful now. Most unexpected development with totally unpredictable repercussions especially because it is the election year.
Killing people in the pretense of saving Islam!!! In 21st century people are pretending to live in the 8th century.......
American seed result which is growing in Libya
Barbarians.
A sad development .
Consequences
I hope Pakistani Government should immediately ban that Promo of the film that is creating this tension and youtube in coming days should be banned by PTA as that video is provocative and i know My people very much. It is more provocative than the cartoons and Egyptian Christian who made this video along with his American Companion should be ashamed of using such a derogatory language and making such a Provocative film. Pakistani Government should immediately took action as I am very much afraid that this violence could definitely broke in Pakistan in coming days as Promo is enough to incite hatred against Islam worldwide and it is pretty dangerous trend emerging right now. We should condemn such freedom of expression videos where One religion is being constantly targeted on the name of freedom.