US official killed as militants storm US consulate in Benghazi "They fired shots in the air before entering the building," Wanis al-Sharif Sharif, Libya's deputy interior minister, said of the Benghazi attack. A nearby resident, who gave his name as Omar, said he had seen the flames and heard shots in the vicinity. Another Libyan witness said armed men had closed the streets leading up to the consulate during the attack. The Libyan incident came as thousands of Egyptian demonstrators tore down the Stars and Stripes at the US embassy in Cairo and replaced it with a black Islamic flag, similar to one adopted by several militant groups. Once the US flag was hauled down, protesters tore it up, with some showing off small pieces to television cameras. Others burned the remains. The US Embassy in Cairo issued a statement saying, in part, that it condemns "the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims - as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions." The statement, an apparent reference to the video, was posted hours before the American's death in Libya was reported. Mitt Romney called the response "disgraceful" criticising the Obama administration for being sympathetic to the attackers. It's disgraceful that the Obama administration's first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathise with those who waged the attacks. Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, later released a statement deploring the violence in the strongest possible terms. "Some have sought to justify this vicious behaviour as a response to inflammatory material posted on the internet," Mrs Clinton said. The United States deplores any intentional effort to denigrate the religious beliefs of others. Our commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the very beginning of our nation. But let me be clear: There is never any justification for violent acts of this kind. The film at the centre of the anti-US protests was made by an Israeli-American who describes Islam as a "cancer," the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. The movie, "Innocence of Muslims," was directed and produced by Sam Bacile, a 52-year-old real-estate developer from southern California who says Islam is a hateful religion. "Islam is a cancer," Mr Bacile told the newspaper of his crudely-produced film, which depicts the Prophet Mohammed variously sleeping with women, talking about killing children and referring to a donkey as "the first Muslim animal." Arab League deputy secretary general, Ahmed Ben Helli, condemned the film saying it "contained insults against the prophet Mohammed" and "was denounced by Christians and Muslims" across the Arab world. 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. The protests came on the eleventh anniversary of the September 11 attacks.