US flags lowered to half mast over ambassador killing

WASHINGTON—The Stars and Stripes atop the White House was lowered Wednesday after President Barack Obama ordered all flags on government buildings to half mast to honor Americans slain in Libya.

“I hereby order that the flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff at the White House and upon all public buildings and grounds,” Obama said in a proclamation.

The order applies to all US military posts, diplomatic sites abroad and ships at sea, and will remain in force until sunset on September 16.

US ambassador Chris Stevens, 52, and three others were killed in an attack on the US consulate in Benghazi late Tuesday by armed Islamists outraged over an amateur American-made Internet video mocking Islam.