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BENGHAZI, Libya — A squad of U.S. troops despatched by helicopter across the Libyan desert to rescue besieged diplomats from Benghazi on Wednesday ran into a fierce ambush that left a further two Americans dead, Libyan officials told Reuters. Captain Fathi al-Obeidi, commander of a special Libyan operations unit, said his men and an eight-man U.S. force came under attack after American survivors had left the blazing consulate and moved to an ostensibly secret location in an isolated villa. The villa came under an intense and highly accurate mortar barrage.

“I really believe that this attack was planned,” he said. “The accuracy with which the mortars hit us was too good for any regular revolutionaries.”

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Of the eight American troops who had come from Tripoli, one was killed and two were wounded, Capt. Obeidi said. A Libyan deputy interior minister said a second American was also killed in the attack on the safe house.