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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration, roiled by the first killing of a U.S. ambassador in more than 30 years, is investigating whether the assault on the U.S. consulate in Libya was a planned terrorist strike to mark the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and not a spontaneous mob enraged over an anti-Islam YouTube video

President Barack Obama vowed in a Rose Garden address that the U.S. would "work with the Libyan government to bring to justice" those who killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. Intelligence officials said the attack on the Benghazi consulate was "too coordinated or professional to be spontaneous," according to a U.S. counterterrorism official.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the incident publicly.

National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said it would be premature to "ascribe any motive to this reprehensible act."

The attack, which came hours after a mob stormed the U.S. Embassy in Cairo and tore down the U.S. flag, was presumed to have been triggered by a movie, whose trailer has gone viral on YouTube, depicting the Islamic prophet Muhammad in disrespectful ways. In an extraordinary move, Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called anti-Islamic preacher Terry Jones and asked him to stop promoting the film. A spokeswoman said the church would not show the film Wednesday evening.

"Make no mistake. Justice will be done," a somber Obama pledged at the White House, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at his side.

He ordered increased security at U.S. diplomatic missions overseas, particularly in Libya, and said he condemned "in the strongest possible terms the outrageous and shocking" attack. Clinton said she was particularly appalled that the attack took place in Benghazi, which the U.S. had helped liberate from dictator Moammar Gadhafi during the Arab Spring revolution in Libya this year.

The aftermath of the two attacks also stirred the U.S. presidential campaign, where until Wednesday, foreign policy had taken a back seat to the struggling economy.

Obama spoke shortly after the Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, criticized the administration for statements issued before and after the Cairo attacks that expressed sympathy for those insulted by the video.

"I also believe the administration was wrong to stand by a statement sympathizing with those who had breached our embassy in Egypt instead of condemning their actions," Romney told a morning news conference. "It's never too early for the United States government to condemn attacks on Americans and to defend our values."

Obama and Clinton made a rare joint visit to the State Department, where grieving colleagues of Stevens and the other three Americans killed in Benghazi gathered in a courtyard. The president also ordered U.S. flags to be flown at half-staff at government and military buildings and vessels around the world until sunset on Sept. 16. Flags had already been lowered in many places to commemorate the victims of the 9/11 attacks.

Clinton denounced those who might kill over an insulting movie.

"There is no justification for this," Clinton said. "None. Violence like this is no way to honor religion or faith and as long as there are those who would take innocent life in the name of God, the world will never know a true and lasting peace."

Underscoring the administration's frustration, Clinton wondered aloud about the attack in Benghazi, which Gadhafi had once threatened to destroy.

"This is not easy," she said. "Today, many Americans are asking, indeed I asked myself, how could this happen? How could this happen in a country we helped liberate, in a city we helped save from destruction? This question reflects just how complicated and, at times, just how confounding, the world can be."

"But we must be clear-eyed in our grief," she said, saying the attack was carried out by a "small and savage group" not representative of the Libyan people. She noted that Libyan security guards had tried to fight off the attackers, had carried Stevens' body to the hospital and led other consulate employees to safety. Several of the Libyan guards also were killed.

Stevens, a 52-year-old career diplomat, was killed when he and a group of U.S. employees went to the consulate to try to evacuate staff as the building came under attack by a mob wielding guns and rocket propelled grenades. Stevens is the first U.S. ambassador to be killed in an attack since 1979, when Ambassador Adolph Dubs was killed in Afghanistan.

Three other Americans were also killed and the State Department identified one of them as Sean Smith, an Air Force veteran who had worked as an information management officer for 10 years in posts such as Brussels, Baghdad and Pretoria. Smith was also well-known in the video game community.

The identities of the others were being withheld pending notification of relatives.

"The mission that drew Chris and Sean and their colleagues to Libya is both noble and necessary, and we and the people of Libya honor their memory by carrying it forward," Clinton said.

U.S. officials said some 50 Marines were being sent to Libya to reinforce security at U.S. diplomatic facilities.

Stevens spoke Arabic and French and had already served two tours in Libya, including running the office in Benghazi during the revolt against Gadhafi. He was confirmed as ambassador to Libya by the Senate earlier this year.

Associated Press writers Jim Kuhnhenn, Kimberly Dozier and Lolita Baldor contributed to this report.

BENGHAZI, Libya (AP) — A mob armed with guns and grenades launched a fiery attack on the U.S. Consulate, killing the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans. President Barack Obama strongly condemned the violence, vowed Wednesday to bring the killers to justice and tightened security at diplomatic posts around the world.

The attack that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens — the first U.S. ambassador to die in the line of duty since 1979 — came on Tuesday's 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist strike and presented a new foreign policy crisis for the United States in a region trying to recover from months of upheaval.

While the deadly assault was initially blamed on an anti-Islamic YouTube video, U.S. officials say the Obama administration is also investigating whether it was a planned terrorist strike to mark the anniversary of 9/11. Intelligence officials said the attack on the Benghazi consulate was too coordinated or professional to be spontaneous, according to a U.S. counterterrorism official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the incident publicly.

Libya's interim president, Mohammed el-Megarif, apologized for what he called the "cowardly" assault on the consulate, which also killed several Libyan security guards in the eastern city. Just before the Benghazi violence, protests also flared in Egypt, where crowds angry over the film climbed the walls of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo and tore down an American flag, which they replaced briefly with a black, Islamist flag.

The demonstrators in Cairo cited an obscure movie made in the United States by a filmmaker who calls Islam a "cancer." Video excerpts posted on YouTube depict the Prophet Muhammad as a fraud, a womanizer and a madman in an overtly ridiculing way, showing him having sex and calling for massacres.

The brazen embassy assaults — the first on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Libya and Egypt — were signs of the lawlessness that has taken hold in the two countries after revolutions ousted their autocratic secular regimes and upended the tightly controlled police state. Islamists have emerged as powerful forces, and security forces have largely broken down.

In Libya, the volatility is further compounded by the wide availability of heavy weapons and the numerous armed militia factions that remain more powerful than security forces. Notably, an Islamic militant group known as the Omar Abdel-Rahman Brigades claimed responsibility in June for a bomb that went off outside the same U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, causing no injuries. The group at the time said the bombing was in retaliation for the killing of al-Qaida's then-number two, Abu Yahya al-Libi in a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan.

Stevens, 52, died as he and a group of embassy employees went to the consulate to try to evacuate staff during the attack late Tuesday by a mob of protesters, including gunmen armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade, attacked.

The crowd, which numbered several thousand strong, moved on the consulate, firing in the air outside the compound. The consulate is a one-story villa located in a fenced garden in downtown Benghazi. A small contingent of Libyan security forces protecting the facility also fired in the air, trying to intimidate them, said Wanis el-Sharef, the deputy interior minister of Libya's eastern region.

But faced with the mob's superior size and firepower, the Libyan security withdrew, el-Sharef said. Gunmen stormed the building, looted its contents and torch it, he said.

By the end of the assault, much of the building was burned out and trashed. On Wednesday, Libyans wandered freely around the burned-out building, taking photos of rooms where furniture was covered in soot and overturned. Walls were scrawled with graffiti.

Details of how the Americans were killed were still being pieced together Wednesday. But according to al-Sharef's account, two distinct attacks took place.

Al-Sharef said Stevens and a consulate staffer who had stayed behind in the building were killed in the initial attack on the consulate.

The rest of the staff successfully evacuated to another building nearby, preparing to move to Benghazi Airport after daybreak to fly to the capital, Tripoli, he said.

Hours after the storming of the consulate, a separate group of gunmen attacked the other building, opening fire on the more than 30 Americans and Libyans inside. Two more Americans were killed and 32 wounded — 14 Americans and 18 Libyans, he said.

There was no immediate confirmation of al-Sharef's account.

Dr. Ziad Abu Zeid, who treated Stevens, told The Associated Press that he died of asphyxiation, apparently from smoke. In a sign of the chaos during the attack, Stevens was brought by Libyans to the Benghazi Medical Center with no other Americans, and no one at the facility knew who he was, Abu Zeid said.

Stevens was practically dead when he arrived before 1 a.m. Wednesday, and "we tried to revive him for an hour and a half, but with no success," Abu Zeid said. The ambassador was bleeding in his stomach because of the asphyxiation but had no other injuries, he said.

The State Department identified one of the other Americans killed as Sean Smith, a foreign service information management officer. The identities of the others were being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

"I strongly condemn the outrageous attack on our diplomatic facility in Benghazi," Obama said in Washington, adding the four Americans "exemplified America's commitment to freedom, justice, and partnership with nations and people around the globe."

Obama ordered increased security to protect American diplomatic personnel around world.

"Make no mistake we will work with the Libyan government to bring to justice the killers who attacked our people," he said.

Obama added: "We reject all efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others, but there is absolutely no justification for this type of senseless violence, none."

Stevens was a career diplomat who spoke Arabic and French and had already served two tours in Libya, including running the office in Benghazi during the revolt against Gadhafi. He was confirmed as ambassador to Libya by the Senate earlier this year.

Before Tuesday, five U.S. ambassadors had been killed in the line of duty, the last being Adolph Dubs in Afghanistan in 1979, according to the State Department.

El-Megarif offered his condolences to the U.S. and also vowed to bring the culprits to justice and maintain close relations with Washington.

"We extend our apology to America, the American people and the whole world," el-Megarif said.

In Benghazi, the bloodshed stunned many Libyans, especially since Stevens was popular among many factions and politicians, including Islamists, and seen as a supporter of their uprising last year against longtime dictator Moammar Gahdafi.

The leader of Ansar al-Shariah, an armed ultraconservative Islamist group, denied any involvement in the attack.

"We never approve of killing civilians, especially those who helped us (like Ambassador Stevens)," said Youssef Jihani. "We are well-educated and religious."

The violence raised worries that further protests could break out around the Muslim world as knowledge of the anti-Islam movie spread.

So far, the reaction was limited.

About 50 protesters burned American flags outside the U.S. Embassy in Tunisia's capital Wednesday but were kept away from the building by reinforced security. And in Gaza City, dozens of protesters carrying swords, axes and black flags chanted "Shame on everyone who insults the prophet." The rally was organized by supporters of a militant group aligned with the ruling Hamas movement.

In Cairo, some 200 Islamists staged a second day of protest outside the U.S. Embassy on Wednesday, but there was no repeat of the previous day's scaling the embassy walls.

"Obama we are all Osama," chanted some of the bearded ultraconservatives, alluding to the al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

Mahmoud Mohammed, a 25-year-old factory worker, demanded a U.S. apology for the offending film and the prosecution of those behind it. "They violated the honor of the prophet and his wives, and made him out to be sex crazed. This is nonsense," he said.

The uproar over the film also poses a new test for Egypt's new Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi, who has yet to personally condemn the riot outside the U.S. Embassy in Cairo or say anything about the offending film. Many of the protesters demanded he speak out against the movie.

His spokesman, Yasser Ali, condemned the film. While the government is responsible for the security of foreign diplomatic missions, he said, it guarantees the right of peaceful protests.

"However, the state will deal firmly with any irresponsible attempts to break the law," he said.

Egypt's top prosecutor, meanwhile, has placed the names of 10 Christian Egyptians living abroad on the list of arrest-on-arrival at the nation's airports. The 10 include two clerics and a well-known, U.S.-based Christian activist who is promoting the offending film.

If arrested, the 10 would be questioned on allegations of showing contempt to religion and could possibly be charged and tried.

Afghanistan's government sought to avert an outbreak of protests. President Hamid Karzai condemned the movie, which he describes as "inhuman and insulting." Authorities also temporarily shut down access to YouTube, the video-sharing site where excerpts of the movie were posted, said Aimal Marjan, general director of Information Technology at the Ministry of Communications.

The two-hour movie that sparked the protests, titled "Innocence of Muslims," came to attention in Egypt after its trailer was dubbed into Arabic and posted on YouTube.

A man identifying himself as Sam Bacile, a 56-year-old California real estate developer, said he wrote, produced and directed the movie.

He told the AP he was an Israeli Jew and an American citizen. But Israeli officials said they had not heard of Bacile and there was no record of him being a citizen. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not permitted to share personal information with the media.

Separately, the film was being promoted by an extreme anti-Muslim Egyptian Christian campaigner in the United States.

Michael reported from Cairo. Associated Press writer Esam Mohamed in Tripoli, Matthew Lee in Washington, Joseph Federman in Jerusalem and Sarah El Deeb in Cairo contributed to this report.

CAIRO (AP) — Ambassador Chris Stevens was still breathing when Libyans stumbled across him inside a room in the American Consulate in Benghazi, pulled him out and drove him to a hospital after last week's deadly attack in the eastern Libyan city, witnesses told The Associated Press on Monday.

Fahd al-Bakoush, a freelance videographer, was among the Libyan civilians searching through the consulate after gunmen and protesters rampaged through it last Tuesday night. Al-Bakoush said he heard someone call out that he had tripped over a dead body.

A group of people gathered as several men pulled the seemingly lifeless form from the room. They saw he was alive and a foreigner, though no one recognized him as Stevens, al-Bakoush said.

He was breathing and his eyelids flickered, he said. "I tested his pulse and he was alive," he said "No doubt. His face was blackened and he was like a paralyzed person."

Video taken by al-Bakoush and posted on YouTube shows Stevens being carried out of a small dark room through a window with a raised shutter and being laid on the floor. One man touches his neck to feel for a pulse. Some of the men shout, "God is great."

The video has been authenticated since Stevens' face is clearly visible and he is wearing the same white t-shirt seen in authenticated photos of him being carried away one another man's shoulders, presumably moments later. Two colleagues of al-Bakoush who also witnessed the scene confirmed that he took the footage.

Stevens and three other Americans were killed in the attack on the consulate, part of a wave of assaults on U.S. diplomatic missions in Muslim countries over a low-budget movie made in the United daStates that denigrates the Prophet Muhammad.

The accounts of all three witnesses mesh with that of the doctor who treated Stevens that night. Last week, the doctor told The Associated Press that Stevens was nearly lifeless when he was brought by Libyans, with no other Americans around, to the Benghazi hospital where he worked. He said Stevens had severe asphyxia from the smoke and that he tried to resuscitate him with no success. Only later did security officials confirm it was Stevens.

A freelance photographer who was with al-Bakoush at the scene, Abdel-Qader Fadl, said Stevens was unconscious and "maybe moved his head, but only once."

Ahmed Shams, a 22-year-old arts student who works with the two, said the group cried out "God is great" in celebration after discovering he wasn't dead. "We were happy to see him alive. The youth tried to rescue him. But there was no security, no ambulances, nothing to help," he said.

The men carried Stevens to a private car to drive him to the hospital since there was no ambulance, all three witnesses said.