TRIPOLI, Libya — An American teacher was shot to death as he was jogging in Benghazi on Thursday, highlighting tenuous security in the eastern Libyan city where the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans were killed last year.
There were no credible claims of responsibility, but suspicion is likely to fall on Islamic militants active in Benghazi. It came five days after al-Qaeda’s American spokesman called upon Libyans to attack U.S. interests everywhere as revenge for U.S. special forces snatching an al-Qaeda suspect off the streets of Tripoli in October and whisking him out of the country.
The United States called on the Libyan government to “thoroughly investigate” the death of the American. White House spokesman Jay Carney said President Barack Obama had been briefed on the situation.
The U.S. State Department identified the teacher as Ronald Thomas Smith II. The State Department did not provide Smith’s hometown, and it was not possible to immediately confirm a statement from a Libyan official that he was from Texas. The University of Texas said he graduated from the Austin school in 2006 with a master’s degree in chemistry.
Smith taught chemistry at International School Benghazi, a Libyan-owned institute that follows a British curriculum.
A Libyan security official, Ibrahim al-Sharaa, said Smith was shot while jogging near the compound where U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and the three others were killed by Islamic militants in September 2012.
Smith was one of four people killed in Benghazi on Thursday, showing the dangers of a city that is home to numerous armed groups resisting the central government’s authority. The three others were military personnel.
