Two ex-Navy SEALs among dead in Libya attack

US: Two of the four Americans killed in Tuesday's attack on the US consulate in Libya were former members of the elite Navy SEALs, US officials said Thursday.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton confirmed the identities of the former SEALs as Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty, praising them as decorated military veterans who "served our country with honor and distinction." Ambassador Chris Stevens and Sean Smith, an information management officer, also were killed in Tuesday's harrowing assault in the eastern city of Benghazi.

"Our embassies could not carry on our critical work around the world without the service and sacrifice of brave people like Tyrone and Glen," Clinton said in a statement.

Doherty had been working on a mission to track down shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles in Libya, according to ABC News.

US military and intelligence officials have warned that thousands of the weapons, so-called MANPADs, were unaccounted for after Libya's former dictator, Moamer Kadhafi, fell from power.

The former SEAL described his job in an interview with ABC last month, saying he had traveled across the country chasing leads and then once the weapons were found, his team would destroy them on the spot, the American television network said.

Woods served multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, providing security at US diplomatic posts in Central America and the Middle East. AFP