The Libyan Deputy Prime Minister, Mustafa Abu Shagour condemned the killing as a cowardly act. According to earlier reports, the gunmen had attacked and burnt the US Consulate in Ben Ghazi, killing one Consular official.
Earlier, in Cairo, the protestors torn down the US flag and burnt it as they scaled the walls of US Embassy in Egypt. The protestors were up in arms against the portrayal of Prophet Mohammed in bad light in the film “Innocence of Muslims”.
The US made film was produced by an Israeli American property developer and promoted by a Florida Pastor Terry Jones. He is the same man who threatened to burn the holy Quran in 2010. Any depiction of Prophet is considered offensive by the Muslims and in the past, such incidents have led to wide spread anger and protest in the Islamic world.
President Obama has condemned the attack as “outrageous and shocking” that killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans, and said he has ordered beefed-up security at other embassies.
“The world must stand together to unequivocally reject these brutal acts,” Obama said during brief remarks in the Rose Garden.
In an apparent reference to the online anti-Islam film that reportedly sparked the violence, Obama said the United States rejects “all efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others — but there is absolutely no justification for this type of senseless violence. None.”
While praising the memory of slain ambassador Christopher Stevens, Obama said, “make no mistake, we will work with the Libyan government to bring to justice the killers who attacked our people.”
Stevens’ death is “especially tragic,” Obama said, because he helped save Benghazi when it was under attack by the late dictator Moammar Gadhafi. After Gadhafi’s fall, Stevens “built partnerships with Libyan revolutionaries and helped them as they planned to build a new Libya,” Obama said.