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Clinton vows to clear uncertainties about Benghazi attack

04 October 2012 04:21 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton vowed on Wednesday to clear all uncertainties about the attack on the U.S. consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi and track down the "terrorists" that killed four American diplomats, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

The top U.S. envoy also advised against any hasty conclusions before the investigations are concluded, as the attack has become a hot-button issue in the ongoing presidential campaign.

"There are continuing questions about what exactly happened in Benghazi on that night three weeks ago, and we will not rest until we answer those questions and until we track down the terrorists who killed our people," she told reporters after meeting with her Kazakh counterpart Yerlan Idrisov at the State Department.

"Active efforts are also underway to determine who was responsible and bring them to justice," she added.

The Obama administration initially described the attack on the night of Sept. 11, in which U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three of his staff were killed, as a spontaneous act ensuing from protests over a U.S.-made film that denigrates the Prophet Mohammed, but it later called the assault a "terrorist act ".

Sharp questions have arisen over the Obama administration’s handling of the security and protection of American facilities and personnel overseas, as the presidential election has only four weeks to go.

Clinton had formed an accountability review board to examine the attack, which has a mandate to determine whether the security systems and procedures were in place in Benghazi when the attack happened.

"I am asking the board to move as quickly as possible without sacrificing diligence and accuracy," she said, adding "The men and women who serve this country as diplomats deserve no less than a full and accurate accounting, wherever that leads."

Cautioning against hasty conclusions based on "any single statement or piece of information," she stressed that "It’s essential that we go through all of the information and the entire context so that we can get a full and complete accurate understanding of what happened."