Suspected Benghazi Attack Ringleader Is Captured By United States

Suspected Benghazi Attack Ringleader Is Captured By United States

By David S. Cloud, Tribune Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — In a secret raid Sunday, U.S. special operations troops captured the suspected ringleader of the 2012 attack against two American government facilities in Benghazi, Libya, putting a key figure in the deadly assault in U.S. hands for the first time, U.S. officials said Tuesday.

Ahmed Abu Khattala was captured near Benghazi by U.S. troops working with the FBI, and was taken to an undisclosed location outside Libya, the Pentagon said in a statement that described him as “a key figure in the attacks on U.S. facilities in Benghazi.”

There were no casualties in the raid and all U.S. personnel have left Libya, the statement said.

President Barack Obama, in statement, said the capture “demonstrated that we will do whatever it takes to see that justice is done when people harm Americans.”

Obama said the United States also remained committed to supporting the Libyan people “as they work to overcome years of tyranny and do the difficult work of building a democracy.”

Khattala’s capture is a major success for the Obama administration, which has faced a steady drumbeat of criticism from Republicans since the Benghazi attacks for failing to capture the perpetrators and for poor security at a U.S. diplomatic compound and a CIA base nearby.

Four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, were killed that night when more than 60 attackers overwhelmed unarmed Libyan guards and stormed the compound, setting fire to the buildings and engaging in running gun battles with a few CIA and diplomatic security agents.

The Justice Department has issued a sealed indictment of Khattala, officials have said, but the FBI investigation of the incident was stalled for months by instability in Libya. The country’s weak government ruled out extraditing its citizens to the United States.

Until his capture, Khattala continued to live freely in Libya while giving taunting interviews to major media outlets as recently as six months ago. The State Department designated Khattala as a terrorist in January, describing him as a leader of Ansar al-Sharia, a Libyan militant group that has been described as having links to al-Qaida.

Staff writer Neela Banerjee contributed to this report.

Photo: Gianluigi Guercia via AFP
Want to keep up with news around the world? Sign up for our daily email newsletter!

Advertising

Start your day with National Memo Newsletter

Know first.

The opinions that matter. Delivered to your inbox every morning

No, Biden Isn't Terribly Unpopular (And He Polls Better Than Trump)

Time was when getting caught in a malicious lie about a rival would have ended an American politician’s career. We no longer live that way. Just the other day, Donald Trump unleashed a series of falsehoods attacking President Biden that would have shamed a carnival barker.

Keep reading...Show less
Secession: For Modern Americans, Red States Are Now Uninhabitable
Abortion billboard in Atlanta, Georgia

I walked past the TV in the living room just now, and the chryron on the screen read, “Election deniers in charge of elections in 17 states.” It came to me that we’ve entered a period when the political polarization of the country has become physical, because a huge section of our nation is uninhabitable by increasing numbers of citizens.

Keep reading...Show less
{{ post.roar_specific_data.api_data.analytics }}