By Cheryl Pellerin
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON – A senior government
official today revealed details of yesterday’s deadly attack on the U.S. Consulate
in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four State Department officials and wounded
three others.
Today, President Barack Obama, Secretary
of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta all
condemned the attack and the senseless deaths of Americans, and extended their
deepest sympathies to the families and colleagues of those who were killed and
wounded in Benghazi.
During a teleconference given on
background to reporters, the official described the scene of an attack whose
elements are unclear or unknown but that killed U.S. Amb. J. Christopher
Stevens, Foreign Service information management officer Sean Smith and two
others whose names are being withheld until State Department officials notify
their families. Three other Americans were wounded in the attack.
All Benghazi consulate personnel have
been evacuated to the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli in a series of flights that
included the three wounded personnel and the remains of the fallen State
Department officials, the official said.
The Benghazi consulate staff will be
transported to Germany, she said.
“The staff that is well is going to stay
in Europe on standby while we assess the security situation,” she said. “The
wounded will be treated [at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center] in Germany,
and the remains will come home.”
In the meantime, the official said, “we
have taken our embassy in Tripoli down to emergency staffing levels and … we
have requested increased support from the Libyans while we assess the security
situation.”
Last night, she said, State Department
officials ordered all diplomatic posts around the world to review their
security posture and to take all necessary steps to enhance that posture.
During the briefing, warning that
details may change as the attack is investigated, the official offered a
timeline of events surrounding the attack.
The consulate in Benghazi is an interim
facility acquired before the fall of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi. It
consists of a main building, several ancillary buildings, and an annex a little
further away, she said.
“At about 4 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time
yesterday, which was about 10 p.m. in Libya, the compound … in Benghazi began
taking fire from unidentified Libyan extremists. By about 4:15 p.m. attackers
gained access to the compound and began firing into the main building, setting
it on fire,” she said, “and the Libyan guard force and mission security
personnel responded.”
At the time, three people were inside
the building -- Ambassador Stevens, a regional security officer, and Smith --
and while trying to evacuate they became separated by heavy, dark smoke.
“The regional security officer made it
outside and then he and other security personnel returned into the burning
building in an attempt to rescue Chris and Sean,” the official said.
They found Smith, who had died, and
pulled him from the building. They were unable to locate Stevens before fire,
smoke and small-arms fire drove them from the building, the official said.
“At about 4:45 p.m. Washington time,
U.S. security personnel assigned to the mission annex tried to regain the main
building but that group also took heavy fire and had to return to the mission
annex,” the official said.
“At about 5:20 p.m.,” she added, “Libyan
security personnel made another attempt and that time were able to regain and
secure the main building.”
The rest of the staff were evacuated to
the nearby annex, which itself came under fire at around 6 p.m. Washington time
and continued under fire for about two hours, she said.
During that ongoing attack, the official
said, two more U.S. personnel were killed and two more were wounded.
At about 8:30 p.m. Washington time, or 2
a.m. in Libya, Libyan security forces helped regain control of the situation,
she said.
“At some point in all of this, and
frankly we do not know when, we believe that Ambassador Stevens got out of the
building and was taken to a hospital in Benghazi,” she said, adding, “We do not
have any information about his condition at that time. His body was later
returned to U.S. personnel at the Benghazi airport.”
The official said Stevens made regular
and frequent trips to Benghazi to check on developments in the east.
“He had been the secretary’s and the president’s
representative to the Transitional National Council before the fall of Gadhafi
and had spent a lot of time in Benghazi and built deep contacts there,” she
explained. “So this was one of his regular visits.”
She said security in Benghazi included a
local guard force outside the compound, “which is similar to the way we are
postured all over the world. We had a physical perimeter barrier and … a robust
American security presence inside the compound, including a strong component of
regional security officers.”
About the protests, the official said,
“We frankly don’t have a full picture of what may have been going on outside
the compound walls before the firing began [and] … we are not in a position to
speak any further to the perpetrators of this attack.”
The complex attack will require a full
investigation, she added.
“We are committed to working with the
Libyans both on the investigation and to ensure that we bring the perpetrators
to justice,” the official said. “The FBI is already committed to assisting in
that but it’s just too early to speak to who [the attackers] were and if they
might have been otherwise affiliated beyond Libya.”
As Clinton said very clearly today, the
official added, “We are as committed today as we have ever been to a free and
stable Libya that is still in America’s interest, and we are going to continue
to work very strongly to help them have the future that they want and they
deserve.”
She added, “I would simply note how
quickly and how strongly senior members of the Libyan government came forward
to condemn this attack, to offer support to us.
She noted that the consulate’s Libyan
security forces stood with U.S. security forces in defending the consulate
buildings.
“One of the local militias that was
friendly to the embassy came to assist as well,” the official added, “and I
think that really speaks to the relationship that we have built with Libya.”
Also here this afternoon, Libyan
ambassador to the United States Ali Suleiman Aujali held a press conference to
condemn the attack on the Benghazi consulate and the deaths of embassy
personnel.
“It is a sad day in my life. I knew
Chris personally. He's my tennis partner. He comes to my house. We have
breakfast together. I’ve known him for more than six years. He may be the first
American diplomat to [have arrived] in Tripoli … after the revolution. He’s
very welcomed by the people. He visited the Libyans. He [ate] with them. He
[sat] with them,” Aujali said.
Aujali also offered his country’s “deep
condolences” to the American people, to the families, and the president.
“We are very sorry for what happened,”
Aujali said. “We will do everything possible … to [ensure] that we have better
relations, better protection [for] the American diplomats and [for] the
international community … working in our country.”
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