US special forces seized a “key leader” of the deadly Benghazi, Libya, attack and he is on his way to face trial in the US for the fiery assault that killed the US ambassador and three other Americans, US President Barack Obama’s administration announced on Tuesday.
It was the first breakthrough in the sudden overseas violence in 2012 that has become a festering political sore at home.
Obama said the capture on Sunday of Ahmed Abu Khattala sends a clear message to the world that “when Americans are attacked, no matter how long it takes, we will find those responsible and we will bring them to justice.”
However, as recently as August last year, Abu Khattala told reporters that he was not in hiding nor had he been questioned by Libyan authorities about the attack at the diplomatic compound. He denied involvement and said that he had abandoned the militia.
US administration officials said on Tuesday that despite his media interviews, Abu Khattala “evaded capture” until the weekend when military special forces, including members of the US Army’s elite Delta Force, nabbed him.
Whatever the path to his capture, he was headed for the US to face what Obama called “the full weight of the American justice system.” Obama called the Libyan an “alleged key leader” of the attack.
US officials said Abu Khattala was being held on the US Navy’s amphibious transport dock ship the USS New York, which was in the Mediterranean Sea. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss Abu Khattala’s whereabouts.
The Libyan was the commander of a militant group called the Abu Obaida bin Jarrah Brigade and is accused of being a senior leader of the Benghazi branch of Ansar al-Shariah in Libya, which the US has designated a terror group.
In the US Congress, Republicans urged the administration to get as much intelligence out of Abu Khattala as possible before anyone reads him his rights to remain silent, supplies him with a lawyer and prepares him for trial in a US courtroom. US Senator Saxby Chambliss, the top Republican on the Intelligence Committee, said interrogation of the Libyan was already under way.
Abu Khattala is charged with terror-related crimes in the US District Court in Washington and is to be tried like a civilian.
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