Key Benghazi suspect in US custody over 2012 deadly Libya attack
Zubayr al-Bakoush, alleged to have played a role in attack on US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, which claimed four American lives, has now been arrested.
US Attorney General Pam Bondi has said that a “key participant” in the 2012 deadly attack on a US compound in Benghazi, Libya, is in custody.
The attack on the US compound in Libya's second-largest city killed four Americans, including the US Ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens.
The case against the suspect, Zubayar al-Bakoush, was announced by Bondi.
"Al-Bakoush will now face American justice on American soil," Bondi said.
Kash Patel, the FBI Director, said that al-Bakoush, one of the individuals allegedly behind the Benghazi attack, has been arrested after evading arrest for more than a decade.
“Al-Bakoush landed in Virginia earlier this morning and is in custody. He will face charges later today,” Patel wrote on X, adding, “This is a massive moment for the country.”
The 2012 attack immediately emerged as a divisive political issue as Republicans challenged President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on security at the facility, the military response to the violence, and the Democratic administration’s changing narrative about who was responsible and why.
A final report by a Republican-led congressional panel faulted the Obama administration for security deficiencies at the Libyan outpost and a slow response to the attacks. The report, however, found no wrongdoing by Clinton.
Clinton dismissed the report as an echo of previous probes with no discoveries, saying it was “time to move on.” Other Democrats denounced the Republicans’ report as “a conspiracy theory on steroids.”
Fourteen years on
On the night of September 11, 2012, US officials have said that at least 20 armed men with AK-47s and grenade launchers breached the gate of the consulate compound and set buildings on fire.
The fire led to the deaths of Ambassador Stevens and State Department employee Sean Smith. Other State Department personnel escaped to a nearby US facility known as the annex.
A large group assembled for an attack on the annex. That attack, including a precision mortar barrage, resulted in the deaths of security officers Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty.
A Libyan suspected of being a mastermind of the attacks, Ahmed Abu Khattala, was captured by US special forces in 2014 and was brought to Washington, DC, for prosecution.
He was convicted and is serving a prison sentence. His attorneys argued that the evidence was inconclusive.