Hillary Clinton pays tribute to US ambassador killed in Libya

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned an attack that killed the US ambassador to Libya as the work of a "small and savage group" but said US-Libyan ties would not suffer.

"I ask myself, how could this happen? How could this happen in a country we helped liberate, in a city we helped save from destruction?" Mrs Clinton said.

"This question reflects just how complicated and, at times, how confounding the world can be," she added.

"But we must be clear-eyed even in our grief. This was an attack by a small and savage group, not the people or government of Libya," she added in a brief appearance.

Mrs Clinton said a free and stable Libya was in US interests and that ties between the two countries would not be a "casualty" of the attack.