State Dept reveals new details of Benghazi attack

A demonstrator holds placard during a rally to condemn the killers of the U.S. Ambassador to Libya and the attack on the U.S. consulate, in Benghazi September 12, 2012. On the back of the burning of the U.S. consulate in Benghazi and the killing of staff connect to it, demonstrators on Wednesday gathered in Libya to condemn the killers and voice support for the U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three embassy staff were killed Wednesday in the attack on the Benghazi consulate and a safe house refuge, stormed by Islamist gunmen blaming America for a film they said insulted the Prophet Mohammad. REUTERS/Esam Al-Fetori (LIBYA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST)

Bangladeshi Muslims shout slogans and raise their shoes during a protest in front of the National Mosque in Dhaka October 5, 2012. Hundreds of Muslims from different Islamist groups staged a protest in Dhaka on Friday over U.S. film said to have insulted the Prophet Mohammad, local media reported. The demonstrators were also protesting against a photo posted onto Facebook by a young Buddhist man that insulted Islam. REUTERS/Andrew Biraj (BANGLADESH - Tags: CIVIL UNREST RELIGION)

There was no indication of the harrowing events that night would bring: assailants storming the compound and setting its buildings aflame, American security agents taking fire across more than a mile of the city, the ambassador and three employees killed and others forced into a daring car escape against traffic.

Senior State Department officials on Tuesday revealed for the first time certain details of last month's tragedy in the former Libyan rebel stronghold, such as the efforts of a quick reaction force that rushed onto the scene and led the evacuation in a fierce gun battle that continued into the streets. The briefing was provided a day before department officials were to testify to a House committee about the most serious attack on a U.S. diplomatic installation since al-Qaida bombed the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania 14 years ago.

The account answers some questions and leaves others unanswered. Chief among them is why for several days the Obama administration said the assault stemmed from a protest against an American-made Internet video ridiculing Islam, and whether the consulate had adequate security.

The officials, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly on the matter, said Ambassador Chris Stevens arrived in Benghazi and held meetings on and off the consulate grounds on Sept. 10. He spent the night, and then out of prudence spent the whole of the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks meeting people inside the compound, an enclosed area about 300 yards long by 100 yards wide, with a 9-foot outer wall topped by barbed wire and augmented by barriers, steel drop bars and other security upgrades.

When Stevens finished his final meeting of the day, he escorted a Turkish diplomat outside the main entrance of the building. The situation was calm, the officials said, and there were no protests. Five U.S. agents and four local militiamen were providing security.

A little more than an hour later, around 9:40 p.m., everything changed.

The compound's agents were alerted by loud noises, gunfire and explosions near the front gate. A barracks near the entrance for the local militiamen was burned down. In the control center, agents watched on cameras as a large group of armed men flowed into the compound. They immediately sounded the alarm and made telephone calls to the embassy in Tripoli, officials in Washington, the Libyan authorities and the U.S. quick reaction force located at a second compound a little over a mile away.

One agent, armed with a sidearm and an assault rifle, took Stevens and State Department computer specialist Sean Smith to a safe room inside one of the compound's two main residences — an area protected by a heavy metal grill and several locks and stocked with medical supplies and water. The other agents rushed to equip themselves with long guns, body armor, helmets and ammunition at other buildings. Two tried to make it to the building with Stevens but took fire and were forced to retreat.

The attackers began to overrun the compound, the officials recounted. The intruders penetrated Stevens' building and tried to break the grill locks for the safe room but couldn't gain access. So they dumped cans of diesel fuel in the building, lit furniture on fire and set aflame part of the exterior of the building.

In the compound's other residence, two agents barricaded themselves against the attackers who had gotten inside the building. The attackers failed to enter the tactical operations center, where the last two agents were located, smashing the door but failing to break it.

Meanwhile, Stevens' building rapidly filled with thick diesel smoke and fumes from the burning furniture. Inside, visibility was less than 3 feet and, unable to breathe, the Americans went to a bathroom and opened a window, trying to get air. They decided to get out of the building. The security agent went first, flopping out onto a patio enclosed by sandbags and taking fire immediately.

Stevens and Smith didn't make it out, the officials said. The agent, suffering severely from smoke inhalation, went in and out of the building several times to look for them — in vain. He then climbed a ladder to the roof of the building and collapsed, radioing the other agents in a barely audible voice to alert them to the situation there.

The other four agents were able to then reunite, taking an armored vehicle to Stevens' building. They reached the collapsed agent and tried to set up a perimeter, taking turns going into the building and searching on hands and knees for the missing Americans. Smith was pulled out, dead. Stevens could not be found.

A six-member quick reaction security team arrived on the scene from its compound across town, the officials said. About 60 Libyan militiamen accompanied the team, and it again tried to secure a perimeter around Stevens' building, taking turns searching inside. Taking fire, the Libyan forces determined they couldn't hold the perimeter. An evacuation plan was quickly put in place to retreat to the reaction force's compound.

The evacuation proved anything but easy. Agents piled into an armored vehicle with Smith's body, facing immediate fire as they left through the main gate. Crowds and groups of men blocked two different routes to the security compound, so the Americans looked for an alternate way through heavy traffic at a speed of about 15 mph, so they wouldn't attract attention.

On a narrow street, according to officials, the agents reached a group of men who signaled for them to enter a compound. They sensed an ambush and sped away, but not before taking heavy fire from AK-47 machine guns at a distance of only 2 feet and hand grenades thrown against and under the car. Two tires were blown out.

They raced past another crowd of men and onto a main street, crossing a grassy median into opposing traffic. The agents then drove against oncoming traffic, eventually reaching their compound.

Once there they had to endure several more hours of intermittent gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades fired their way.

A team of reinforcements from the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli arrived on a chartered aircraft at the Benghazi airport and reached the security compound.

But the Americans could do little when their main building was hit by mortar fire around 4 a.m. Two security personnel were killed, and one agent who had been involved in the earlier fighting was severely wounded.

The men decided to leave the city. They spent the next hours securing the annex and moving a large convoy of vehicles to the airport.

They flew out on two planes.

Video: White House defends evolving Benghazi attack accounts

Officials: US drone kills 5 in northwest Pakistan

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani intelligence officials say a suspected U.S. missile strike has killed five people in a northwestern militant haven near the Afghan border.

The officials say four missiles struck a house early Wednesday near Mir Ali town in North Waziristan. The area is home to several al-Qaida-linked and other militant groups. The three officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to the media.

The U.S. says one of the area's groups — the Haqqani network, which focuses on attacks against U.S. troops and NATO allies — is among the biggest threats to peace in Afghanistan.

Washington relies on the drone strikes in the absence of a Pakistani military operation in the region. Pakistani residents view the drone program as an affront to their sovereignty.

French prosecutor: police find bomb-making material after weekend terror arrests

PARIS - The French state prosecutor says that police have discovered bomb-making material in a suburban parking lot linked to a dozen weekend arrests of terror suspects.

Francois Molins said on Wednesday that the material was found in a suburb east of Paris.

A dozen people were arrested last weekend suspected in the firebombing in September of a kosher grocery store north of Paris.

Molins said detention of the 12 suspects will be extended for 24 hours.

World stocks fall on US earnings worries, Spain

Associated Press/Lee Jin-man - Currency traders work at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Korea Exchange Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2012. Worries about Europe's debt crisis, signs of weak global growth and expectations of lower U.S. corporate earnings sent most Asian stock markets down Wednesday. South Korea's Kospi dropped 1.4 percent at 1,955.84. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A man walks in front of the electronic stock board of a securities firm showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index falling 173.36 points to 8596.23 in Tokyo, Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2012. Worries about Europe's debt crisis, signs of weak global growth and expectations of lower U.S. corporate earnings sent most Asian stock markets down Wednesday. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)

BANGKOK (AP) — Worries about Europe's debt crisis, signs of weak global growth and expectations of lower U.S. corporate earnings sent most world stock markets down Wednesday.

European stocks lost ground as did Wall Street futures. Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.3 percent to 5,792.95. Germany's DAX slipped 0.2 percent to 7,225.58 and France's CAC-40 shed 0.1 percent to 3,379.68. Dow Jones industrial futures lost 0.1 percent to 13,397. S&P 500 futures were marginally lower at 1,435.30.

Stock markets in Asia also posted losses, with the exception of mainland China, where shares rose a day after posting big gains on hopes that Chinese authorities were preparing sizeable steps to help reverse the decline in growth in the world's second-largest economy.

The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.2 percent to 2,119.94 while the smaller Shenzhen Composite Index added 1 percent to 880.37.

"Investors expect that probably the central government will announce stimulus measures very soon, so I think that supports the China market," said Lee Kok Joo, head of research at Phillip Securities in Singapore.

Elsewhere, Japan's Nikkei 225 index tumbled 2 percent to its lowest close in two months at 8,596.23. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.1 percent to 20,919.60. South Korea's Kospi dropped 1.6 percent to 1,948.22. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.3 percent to 4,490.70.

The International Monetary Fund said Tuesday that Spain's economy — already in double-dip recession — will contract by 1.3 percent next year, more than double its previous prediction.

Spain, with near 25 percent unemployment, has introduced a series of austerity and labor measures in a desperate bid to bring down its deficit and convince investors it can manage its finances without outside help.

Madrid is now pushing for the European Central Bank to buy Spanish government bonds and bring down its borrowing costs, but the ECB insists the country must formally apply for aid first.

"Spain remains the major focal point and in this regard there is no progress in the country moving forward with a bailout request," analysts at Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong said in a market commentary.

The IMF also cut its estimates for global economic growth, warning that mature economies are at risk of recession.

Among individual stocks, Toyoto Motor Corp. fell 1.9 percent, a day after announcing that sales of new vehicles in China had dropped nearly 49 percent in September. Sales of Japanese vehicles nosedived in China last month as anti-Japanese sentiment flared over a territorial dispute.

Investors expecting Chinese authorities to introduce infrastructure projects or loosen restrictions in the property market helped Hong Kong-listed property and construction shares. Henderson Land Development Co. rose 2 percent. China National Building Material Co. added 1.2 percent.

Hong Kong-listed BYD Co., the Chinese auto and battery maker partly owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Corp., gained 4.2 percent.

Investors on Wall Street have been discouraged by the IMF report as well as expectations of lower corporate earnings. Analysts expect earnings for Standard & Poor's 500 companies to be lower than a year ago — the first time that has happened in almost three years.

Benchmark oil was down 48 cents to $91.90 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The price of oil rose more than 3 percent Tuesday on concerns about supplies from the Middle East and the North Sea. The contract rose $3.06 to finish at $92.39 per barrel.

In currencies, the euro fell to $1.2869 from $1.2880 late Tuesday in New York. The dollar rose to 78.28 yen from 78.22 yen.

Doctors remove bullet from Pakistani girl activist

A wounded Pakistani girl, Malala Yousufzai, is moved to a helicopter to be taken to Peshawar for treatment in Mingora, Swat Valley, Pakistan on Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2012. A Taliban gunman walked up to a bus taking children home from school in Pakistan’s volatile Swat Valley Tuesday and shot and wounded a 14-year-old activist known for championing the education of girls and publicizing atrocities committed by the Taliban, officials said. (AP Photo/Sherin Zada)

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani doctors successfully removed a bullet Wednesday from the neck of a 14-year-old girl who was shot by the Taliban for speaking out in support of education for women, a government minister said.

A team of army and civilian surgeons have been treatingMalala Yousufzai in a military hospital in Peshawar where she was airlifted after the Tuesday shooting in her hometown of Mingora in the country's volatile Swat Valley.

The operation to remove the bullet took hours because there were complications, said the information minister in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Mian Iftikhar Hussain.

"She is improving. But she is still unconscious," he said. "I can't say a final word about her condition. A board of doctors is constantly examining her condition."

Hussain said there was no decision yet whether the girl needed to be taken abroad for further treatment.

Malala is admired across Pakistan for exposing the Taliban's atrocities and advocating for girls' education in the face of religious extremism. On Tuesday, a Taliban gunman walked up to a bus taking children home from school and shot her in the head and neck. Another girl on the bus was also wounded.

The country's army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, visited the hospital to get a first-hand account of her condition, the military said in a statement.

"In attacking Malala, the terrorist have failed to grasp that she is not only an individual, but an icon of courage and hope who vindicates the great sacrifices that the people of Swat and the nation gave, for wresting the valley from the scourge of terrorism," Kayani said in the statement.

He also vowed that the military would not bow to terrorists like those who shot the young activist.

"We will fight, regardless of the cost we will prevail," he said.

The strongly-worded statement was extremely rare for the reticent Kayani and a sign of how strongly Malala's shooting has affected Pakistanis across the religious, political and ethnic spectrum.

Malala began writing a blog when she was just 11 under the pseudonym Gul Makai for the BBC about life under the Taliban, and began speaking out publicly in 2009 about the need for girls' education. The Taliban strongly opposes education for women, and the group has claimed responsibility for the Tuesday attack.

Private schools in the Swat Valley were closed Wednesday in a sign of protest over the shooting and in solidarity with Malala, said Ahmed Shah, the chairman of an association of private schools.

At one time the picturesque Swat Valley — nicknamed the Switzerland of Pakistan — was a popular tourist destination for Pakistanis. Honeymooners vacationed along the river running through the valley.

Then the Taliban in 2007 began infiltrating the valley just 280 kilometers (175 miles) from the capital, eventually assuming near-total control of the region before being ejected in a massive Pakistani military operation.

The takeover, as well as the Taliban's brutal treatment of civilians in the region, shocked many Pakistanis, who considered militancy to be a far-away problem in Afghanistan or Pakistan's rugged tribal regions.

But Tuesday's attacked demonstrated that the Taliban have not been eradicated from the valley and are trying to make their presence felt even three years after the offensive to oust them.

Malala was nominated last year for the International Children's Peace Prize, which is organized by the Dutch organization KidsRights to highlight the work of children around the world. She also was honored last year with one of Pakistan's highest awards for civilians for her bravery.

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Associated Press writer Sherid Zada in Mingora contributed to this report.