Additional U.S. embassy security guards sent to Paris after attacks

The U.S. Marine Corps had sent additional embassy security guards to the French capital of Paris in the wake of deadly assaults for which the extremist group the Islamic State (IS) had asserted responsibility.

Members of the Corps' embassy reinforcement team, also know as the Marine Security Augmentation Unit (MSAU), arrived in Paris on Monday to provide additional security support to U.S. embassy in Paris, according to the weekly newspaper Marine Corps Times.

The U.S. State Department made the request for intensified embassy security in Paris, said Marine Corps Times, adding that State Department officials refused to comment on the exact size of the team.

Based in Quantico, Virginia, the MSAU are trained embassy guards responsible for reinforcing embassy security worldwide and can be summoned by a U.S. ambassador, chief of mission or region security in case an embassy is in danger.

However, as investigation had indicated, no marines were deployed at the U.S. compounds in Benghazi, Libya, when protesters stormed the U.S. embassy in 2012 and killed four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens. Enditem