AMY CHOZICK

The parents of two Americans killed in the 2012 attack on a U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, filed a lawsuit Monday against Hillary Clinton, saying that her “’extreme carelessness’ in handling confidential and classified information” while secretary of state contributed to the conditions that led to their sons’ deaths.

In the wrongful-death lawsuit, Patricia Smith and Charles Woods allege that the attack that killed four Americans, including their sons, Sean Smith and Tyrone Woods, “was directly and proximately caused, at a minimum” by Clinton’s use of a private email server while in the State Department.

The suit also accuses Clinton of having made “false and defamatory statements negligently, recklessly and purposefully and/or intentionally with malice” in her public comments, including those about the connection between the attack and an anti-Muslim YouTube video.

Both Smith and Woods have spoken out publicly against Clinton during the election campaign.

At the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in July, Smith, a vocal supporter of Donald Trump, said, “I blame Hillary Clinton personally for the death of my son.”

Nick Merrill, a spokesman for Clinton, said in a statement, “While no one can imagine the pain of the families of the brave Americans we lost at Benghazi, there have been nine different investigations into this attack and none found any evidence whatsoever of any wrongdoing on the part of Hillary Clinton.”

Last fall, Clinton answered eight hours of questioning from a Republican-led House committee over her handling of the Benghazi attack and its aftermath. A report the committee filed in June found no new evidence of wrongdoing by Clinton.

© 2016 New York Times News Service