The United States said Friday, Sept 14, that reports it had advance warning of the attack on its consulate in Benghazi which killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya were "absolutely wrong," AFP reports.

"The story is absolutely wrong. We were not aware of any actionable intelligence," White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

"There was no intelligence that in any way could have been acted on to prevent these attacks," Carney said.

The London-based Independent newspaper earlier cited unnamed senior diplomatic sources as saying the State Department had credible information 48 hours before the attack in Benghazi that U.S. missions could be targeted.

Ambassador Christopher Stevens died on Tuesday along with three other Americans in the assault on the consular building, on the 11th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.