Story highlights Militants attacked the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, a State Department spokeswoman says

State Department official: Libya has notified the United States that a consular employee was killed

The State Department does not have independent confirmation of the death

The Libyan government has notified the United States that an employee at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, was killed Tuesday, a State Department official told CNN.

The State Department does not have independent confirmation of the death, the official said. The nationality of the worker was not immediately clear.

Earlier Tuesday, a group of militants attacked the consulate, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

"We are working with the Libyans now to secure the compound," Nuland said. "We condemn in strongest terms this attack on our diplomatic mission."

Members of a radical Islamist group had been protesting at the consulate, a freelance journalist working for CNN in Benghazi said.