US Ambassador Killed in Libya Attack: Obama Condemns Killings as 'Outrageous, Senseless' [VIDEO]

The United States Ambassador to Libya along with three other embassy staff American citizens were killed in the city of Benghazi on Tuesday. The deaths occurred after an angered mob rushed the U.S. consulate in protest of an American-made short film which mocks the Islamic Prophet Muhammad. In a statement made on Wednesday, President Barack Obama condemned the killings of these four innocent Americans as "outrageous" and "senseless."

52-year-old Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens had served as a U.S. Foreign Service officer for 21 years. He had previously taken up his Libya post in the capitol of Tripoli in May. His death is the first of an American envoy abroad to happen in over 20 years. While two of the victims still remain unidentified, the U.S. State Department reported that U.S. Foreign Service Information Management Officer, Sean Smith, was also killed during the attack.

Obama said in a statement made Wednesday morning, "I strongly condemn the outrageous attack on our diplomatic facility in Benghazi, which took the lives of four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens. Right now, the American people have the families of those we lost in our thoughts and prayers. They exemplified America's commitment to freedom, justice and partnership with nations and people around the globe, and stand in stark contrast to those who callously took their lives."

U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton added, "He risked his own life to lend the Libyan people a helping hand to build the foundation for a new, free nation. He spent every day since helping to finish the work that he started. Chris was committed to advancing America's values and interests, even when that meant putting himself in danger."

Stevens was in support of the uprising that overthrew longtime strongman Moammar Gadhafi, which gained him many Libyan rebel supporters.

Mohanned Magarief, president of Libya's national assembly, made a public apology on Wednesday "to the United States, the people, and to the whole world for what happened."

While details of the incident still remain unclear, earlier reports claim that several dozen gunmen from the Islamist group Ansar al Sharia attacked the U.S. consulate with automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. While the building caught on fire, Stevens and the three other staff members went to go warn other colleagues to go evacuate the premises.

Libya's Deputy Interior Minister Wanis al-Sharif described the attack to reporters as an "almost suicidal" mission. According to al-Sharif, the U.S. consulate was "at fault" for not taking adequate precautions.

The angered Libyan mob was supposedly responding in protest of a film produced by Israeli-American Sam Bacile and backed by members of Egypt's Coptic Christian minority group. In the film, the Prophet Muhammad is portrayed as a child of undetermined parentage who turns into a rather "clown" of a man. Among other insulting insinuations, the Prophet Muhammad is shown to advocate child abuse and extramarital sex.