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U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that a “key participant” in the 2012 attack on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi, Libya, has been arrested.
The attack on a U.S. diplomatic compound and a nearby CIA annex left four Americans dead, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens.
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Mr Bondi said Zubair al-Bakush had been extradited to the US and would face murder, arson and “terrorism”-related charges.
“We have never forgotten these heroes,” Bondi said of those killed.
“We will prosecute this terrorist suspect to the fullest extent of the law,” she said at a news conference.
“Let this case remind you that if you commit a crime against American citizens anywhere in the world, President (Donald) Trump’s Justice Department will find you,” Bondi added.
charged with two counts of murder
Details of Al Bakush’s alleged involvement in the September 11, 2012 attacks have not yet been disclosed.
The attack on the embassy in Benghazi comes amid an outbreak of violence in Libya after the overthrow and killing of longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. It followed a US-led NATO operation in the North African country that destabilized the Qaddafi regime.
Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, told reporters that Al Bakush was originally indicted in 2015, but the indictment remained sealed.
Pirro said he was charged with both the murders of Stevens and another State Department employee, Sean Smith, and the attempted murder of a State Department special employee.
Two other U.S. government employees, Tyrone Woods and Glenn Dougherty, were also killed in the incident. Al Bakush was not charged with their murders.
past arrests
Another man, Ahmed Abu Katara, was previously convicted in the United States in connection with the attack and is currently serving a 28-year sentence since being taken into custody in 2014.
U.S. prosecutors said Abu Khatallah led Libyan militants and directed the attack. Abu Khatallah was acquitted of murder, but was found guilty of four other terrorism-related charges in the case.
Mustafa al-Imam, a Libyan national, was also convicted in 2020 for his involvement in the attack, but was not directly charged with the killing.
The killing sparked a series of US Congressional investigations into security deficiencies surrounding the incident, with a particular focus on the role of former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
In 2015, Clinton said she was responsible for the deaths of Americans, but she vehemently denied that she had been informed of the request for increased security at the compound.
Stevens had traveled to Benghazi, Libya’s second largest city, to meet with armed groups opposed to the government.
FBI Director Kash Patel told reporters on Friday that the agency had conducted a “foreign extradition,” but provided few details about when, where or how Mr. Al-Bakoush was arrested.
He said only the arrests were made “overseas.”
Patel said he would not provide any further information to “not only preserve the integrity of this investigation, but also preserve the possibility and promise of bringing more people to justice for this heinous act of terrorism.”
Murder of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi
Friday’s announcement came days after it was confirmed that former Libyan leader Gaddafi’s most prominent son, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, was killed. It was not immediately clear who was behind the killing.
Although Gaddafi never held any official position in Libya, he was considered his father’s number two from 2000 to 2011.
After becoming an architect of his father’s crackdown on dissidents, he was captured by rebel forces and held in custody until 2017.
Some saw the young Gaddafi, who had recently made a new foray into politics, as a replacement for the country’s two seats of power.
Libya is currently ruled by two dueling governments. One is recognized by the United Nations and is based in the capital, Tripoli, while the other is run by the so-called Libyan National Army, led by Khalifa Haftar, in the east of the country.
