US thanks Italy for 'crucial role' in Libya

US Ambassador to Libya Richard Norland thanked Italy for its "crucial role" in efforts to end the conflict wracking the North African country, the US embassy said in a tweet on Wednesday marking the seventh anniversary of the killing in Benghazi of US envoy Chris Stevens and three other US diplomats.

"In a Sept. 11 call with Italian Ambassador Buccino, one of the few foreign diplomats still resident in Tripoli and someone who had worked closely with Chris Stevens... Ambassador Norland asked (Italy's) Ambassador (Giuseppe) Buccino to remember our fallen colleagues," the US embassy in Libya tweeted.

Norland "thanked Italy for its crucial role in promoting a settlement to the conflict in Libya," the tweet added.

Stevens and fellow diplomats Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty died in the attack on the US consulate in the eastern Libyan port city by Islamic militants on the night of September 11-12, 2012.

Libya - a former Italian colony where a deadly five-month-old battle for Tripoli rages on - has been in turmoil since the 2011 Nato-backed ouster of late dictator Muammar Gaddafi during a popular uprising. Rival administrations in the east and west of the country are vying for control of the oil-rich country, backed by a myriad of armed including Islamist groups.