The U.S. State Department has identified two of the four Americans killed in the assault on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi as former Navy SEALs.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton identified the two men as 41-year-old Tyrone Woods and 42-year-old Glen Doherty, both decorated military veterans.

"Our thoughts, prayers, and deepest gratitude are with their families and friends," she said in a statement. "Our embassies could not carry on our critical work around the world without the service and sacrifice of brave people like Tyrone and Glen."

Woods, called "Rone" by family and friends according to Clinton, served as a Navy SEAL for over two decades and served multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Woods also was a registered nurse and a paramedic, and had worked protecting U.S. diplomatic personnel in dangerous posts all over the world since 2010.

Woods lived in Imperial Beach, Calif., Fox 5 reports. He owned a local bar called the Salty Frog Bar before selling in 2011.

He leaves behind his wife, Dorothy, and three sons, Tyrone Jr., Hunter, and Kai, who is only a few months old.

Doherty, known as "Bub" according to Clinton, also was an experienced Navy SEAL and paramedic. In a statement obtained by Fox News, Doherty's brother Greg says his brother joined the SEALS in 1995 because he had "a desire to push himself and to use his talents to make genuine change in the world."

Doherty was trained as a sniper and medical officer and responded to the attack on the USS Cole, among other missions. He served two tours as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom and retired from the SEALS in 2005. He then worked for a private security contracting firm in the Middle East, but also worked as a white-water riving rafting guide and a ski instructor during his life.

Greg Doherty described his brother as a loyal friend and a life-long adventurer.

"His way of making everyone around him feel special and loved came from the fact that he genuinely looked up to all his friends, always seeing their greatness in a way they sometimes wished they could see themselves, and from the fact that he felt for them the purest and most loyal of love," he said in the statement.

Based on an account of the Benghazi attack provided by senior administration officials, Doherty and Woods likely died while trying to take cover from gunfire in the annex near the main U.S. consulate building. At least three others were wounded in the attack.

Clinton said she condemned the attacks and stressed that additional steps were being taken to secure American outposts and citizens around the world.

"This violence should shock the conscience of people of all faiths and traditions, " Clinton said.

The U.S. government earlier confirmed that U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and Sean Smith, a foreign service information management officer, also died in the attack.

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Fox News' Justin Fishel and Jana Winter contributed to this report.