An American security contractor was among at least nine people killed in an attack on a Libyan hotel on Tuesday.

The contractor has been identified as John Berry, who had been working as a security contractor for consulting firm Crucible LLC, according to news channel NBC Washington.

The US State Department confirmed the death of a US citizen in the attack. “We can confirm the death of a US citizen in Libya. We have no additional details to share at this time,” said a senior State Department official who was traveling with Secretary of State John Kerry.

A security guard was also killed when the attackers set off a car bomb in the hotel’s car park.

One of the security guards who was on duty described the moment one of the attackers detonated a grenade. He explained there were “two people armed with explosives inside their bags, one of them hugged me, one of them exploded. The other did not explode.”

Tripoli’s prime minister, who was a guest at the hotel at the time of the assa