WASHINGTON, September 12, 2012 (AFP)
WASHINGTON, September 12, 2012 (AFP)
The final hours of US Ambassador Chris Stevens were shrouded in mystery Wednesday after he was trapped in a blazing inferno when an American mission in Libya was attacked by armed militants.
The US offices, in a rented compound in eastern Benghazi, first came under fire at around 10:00 pm local time (2000 GMT) “from unidentified Libyan extremists,” a US official said.
Within 15 minutes the militants had gained access to the compound “and began firing into the main building, setting it on fire. The Libyan guard and our mission security personnel responded,” the official said.
Three people, including Stevens, a security officer, and information management officer Sean Smith, were in the building, the official said, asking not to be identified.
They became separated due to the heavy 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.
“Security personnel were endeavoring to get him out of the building when they got separated by the incredibly thick smoke and fire,” the official said, adding that photos from the incident gave “some sense of how awful the conditions were.”
“And they then turned right back, and got more help, and went back in to look for him. So this was really quite an heroic effort.”
The team found Smith’s body, but could not find the ambassador, and were driven back out of the building by the smoke and heavy arms fire.
Security staff made a first attempt to regain the main building, but were beaten back as they were fired on and took shelter in a nearby annex.
At about 11:20pm, another attempt was made and they managed to regain the main building. The remaining staff was evacuated to the annex, which then around midnight also came under sustained attack for about two hours.
“It was during that time that two additional US personnel were killed and two wounded, during that ongoing attack.”
At around 2:00 am Libyan forces helped the US security guard to regain control of the situation, the official 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. We do not have any information what his condition was at that time.
“His body was later returned to US personnel at the Benghazi airport.”
The FBI has now opened an inquiry into the attack and the circumstances of the deaths of the three who were killed.
“We are not clear on the circumstances between the time when (the ambassador) got separated from the rest of the group inside the burning building to the time that we were notified that he was in a Benghazi hospital,” the official said.
An autopsy will now be carried out to determine the cause of death.
“We are not in a position to speak any further to the perpetrators of this attack. It was clearly a complex attack. We’re going to have to do a full investigation,” the official said.
At least three people were wounded in the attack, and were being flown to Germany, along with diplomatic staff from Benghazi and Tripoli. Only a core number of emergency staff have been left behind at the embassy in Tripoli.
