Esam Omran Al-Fetori / Reuters
The U.S. Consulate in Benghazi is seen in flames during a protest by an armed group said to have been protesting a film being produced in the U.S., on Sept. 11.
By NBC News and news services
Updated at 10:20 p.m. ET: A U.S. State Department officer was killed in Benghazi, Libya after armed protesters stormed the U.S. Consulate there, furious about an amateur video allegedly produced in the U.S. that has been viewed as insulting to the Prophet Muhammad.
Sec. of State Hillary Clinton confirmed American's death in a statement on Tuesday evening.
"Some have sought to justify this vicious behavior as a response to inflammatory material posted on the Internet," Clinton said in the statement. "The United States deplores any intentional effort to denigrate the religious beliefs of others."
The attack left much of the consulate burned, witnesses said, and came hours after demonstrators in Egypt climbed the walls of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo to protest the video.
In Benghazi, protesters from various groups joined together to pull down the American flag in the embassy's courtyard and?tried to raise a black flag with the words: "There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger."
Protesters scaled the walls of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo and pulled down the American flag during a protest over what they said was a film produced in the United States that insulted the Prophet Muhammad. NBC's Richard Engel reports.
Once the U.S. flag was hauled down, protesters tore it up, with some showing off small pieces to television cameras. Then others burned pieces of the flag before riot police arrived. Most of the 2,000 in the crowd later left.?Some reports said warning shots were fired.
The video, clips of which are online, shows a portrayal of the prophet having sex and calling for massacres, the AP reported.
Egyptian media have been reporting on it for several days, with ultraconservative clerics going on air to denounce it.?
"This movie must be banned immediately and an apology should be made ... This is a disgrace," said 19-year-old Ismail Mahmoud, a member of the so-called "ultras" soccer supporters who played a big role in the uprising that brought down Hosni Mubarak last year.
Many Muslims consider any depiction of the Prophet Muhammad to be offensive.
The press has so far blamed the video on Morris Sadek, an Egyptian-born Christian who lives in the U.S. and who is known for his anti-Islam views, the AP reported. Morris posted the video on his Facebook page and promoted it on his personal website.
Sadek told the AP that the video "explains the problems of the Copts who suffer from Muslims," which he blamed on the Koran itself.
An Egyptian state website carried a statement by Egypt's Coptic Orthodox church condemning what it said were moves by some Christian Copts living abroad "to finance the production of a film insulting Prophet Mohammad."
About a tenth of Egypt's 83 million people are Christians.
Medhat Klada, a representative of Coptic Christian organizations in Europe, said Sadek's views are not representative of expatriate Copts.
"He is an extremist ... We don't go down this road. He has incited the people (in Egypt) against Copts," he said, speaking from Switzerland. "We refuse any attacks on religions because of a moral position."
Klada said he was most concerned about the backlash from angry Islamists. "They don't know dialogue and they think that Islam will be offended from a movie."
The U.S. embassy had put out a statement earlier on Tuesday condemning those who hurt the religious feelings of Muslims or followers of any other religions.
Mohammed Abu Zaid / AP
Protesters destroy an American flag pulled down from the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt, on Tuesday.
"We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others," the embassy said in its statement.
"Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of American democracy," it stated, adding that it condemned the efforts by "misguided individuals" to hurt the feelings of Muslims.?
One slogan scrawled on the walls of the embassy, a fortress-like structure that is near Tahrir Square where Egyptians revolted against Mubarak, said: "If your freedom of speech has no limits, may you accept our freedom of action."
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.?
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