Justice will be done: Obama on Libya envoy incident

Barack Obama dispatched 50 US marines to Libya on Wednesday to help hunt down the killers of an American ambassador as suspicions grew that the attack was planned and carefully orchestrated.

The president pledged that "justice will be done" after Chris Stevens, 52, was killed by an Islamist mob in an attack on the US consulate in the eastern coastal city of Benghazi. A second diplomat, Sean Smith, and two other US officials were killed in the raid, which came on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on America.

The Benghazi attack was initially thought to have been the work of a spontaneous mob, provoked by a US-made film ridiculing the Prophet Mohammed that had been highlighted by media throughout the Middle East.

However, there was mounting speculation last night that it had been carefully planned by al-Qaeda-linked Islamic extremists.

The attackers were apparently armed with mortars and rocket-propelled grenades, and there was speculation of links with the death of al-Qaeda's deputy leader or the 11th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.

Speaking outside the White House yesterday, Obama confirmed that a 50-strong US marine anti-terrorist security team had been dispatched to Libya to bolster security and aid efforts to find those responsible.

"Make no mistake. Justice will be done," he said. "The United States condemns in the strongest terms this outrageous and shocking attack,"

He paid tribute to the work of Stevens, who had led American diplomatic efforts to liberate Benghazi last year. The attacks were swiftly condemned as "cowardly" by Libya's interim government and by the international community. "We extend our apology to America, the American people and the whole world," said Libya's interim president, Mohammed el-Megarif.

Stevens is the first US ambassador to be killed in the line of duty since Adolph Dubs, an envoy to Afghanistan, was kidnapped and killed during an attempt to rescue him in 1979.

Although precise details of the attack were still unclear last night, claims that it could have been a deliberate, targeted assault gathered strength.

A senior US official told the CNN network that a grenade had set ablaze a building inside the walled consulate compound, leaving the Americans facing both a fire inside and attackers outside.

The ambassador and the others who died were separated from the rest of the staff while trying to escape to the roof of the building and succumbed to smoke inhalation, the official said.

Doctors at the Benghazi Medical Centre said Stevens had been at the point of death when he was brought in by several friendly Libyans. "We tried to revive him for an hour and a half but with no success," Dr Ziad Abu Zeid said.

The Quilliam Foundation, an anti-extremist think tank in London, speculated in a statement that the attacks could have been linked by a promise this week by the al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri to avenge the death of his deputy, Abu Yahya al-Libi, who was killed in a drone strike in June.

A group called the "Imprisoned Omar Abdul Rahman Brigades", which attacked both the Red Cross office and the US consulate in Benghazi earlier this year, was being put forward as a leading suspect for the attacks

US military officials said they were preparing to launch reconnaissance drones over eastern Libya to assist local security forces in hunting down the militants responsible for the consulate attack. The FBI was also reported to be involved in the investigation.

A senior Whitehall security official said many Islamist groups were still operating in the country with links with terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda.

The US was bracing for further flashpoints around the Islamic world as the controversial film, Innocence of Muslims, which also provoked protests outside the US embassy in Cairo, spread virally across the Middle East on the internet. The Afghan government reportedly attempted to block YouTube in an effort to stop the film being shared as the Taliban promised to "take revenge" on American soldiers for the offence caused.