DHAKA: An American teacher has been shot dead in Libya`s eastern city of Benghazi, local officials say.

Ronnie Smith, who is reported to be from Texas, taught chemistry at the international school in the city.

The 33-year-old was gunned down earlier on Thursday as he was jogging in the Fweihat district, a popular residential area in the city.

No group has said it carried out the attack. There was no formal statement from the US embassy in Libya.

However, in a tweet the US ambassador to Libya, Deborah Jones, said her heart went out "to the family of the American school teacher".

"Libya`s enemies will not succeed in driving away her friends," she wrote in a second post.

The BBC`s Rana Jawad in Tripoli says Smith was one of the few foreign citizens living in Benghazi.

For more than a year, many foreign governments have advised against all travel to Benghazi by their nationals, BBC correspondent says.

The warnings followed an attack on the US consulate in September 2012 in which US ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed.

Hardline Islamist groups have since been blamed for that attack but no one has been convicted.

Source: BBC
BDST: 1128 HRS, DEC 06, 2013