WASHINGTON (AP) — A man described as a key participant in the deadly 2012 attack on the U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya, has been taken into custody and will be prosecuted in connection with a rampage that killed four Americans and became a divisive political issue, the Justice Department said Friday.
Zubayar Al-Bakoush, identified by officials as a member of an extremist militia in Libya, had been wanted by the United States for more than a decade. He is accused in a newly unsealed indictment of joining an armed mob that crashed the gates of the diplomatic mission and set fire to buildings in a 13-hour-long assault.
FBI and Justice Department officials did not detail the circumstances of his arrest but said he was taken to an airfield in Virginia early Friday and will face charges in Washington including murder, attempted murder, arson and conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorism organization. It was unclear if Al-Bakoush had an attorney representing him or when he might appear in court.
The arrest is the first by President Donald Trump’s administration arising from the attack, but it is not the first time that the Justice Department as an institution has attempted to hold to account the militants believed responsible for the killings of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.
A suspected mastermind, Ahmed Abu Khattala, was captured by U.S. special forces in 2014 and was convicted and imprisoned after a jury trial. His attorneys argued that the evidence was inconclusive.
“We have never stopped seeking justice for that crime against our nation,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi, who announced the arrest at a news conference with FBI Director Kash Patel and U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, the top federal prosecutor in Washington, whose office will be handling the case.
The attack almost immediately became a political flashpoint in Washington as Republicans challenged President Barack Obama and then-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 attack. The report, however, found no wrongdoing by Clinton. Clinton at the time dismissed the report as an echo of previous probes with no new discoveries, saying it was “time to move on.” Other Democrats denounced the Republicans’ report as “a conspiracy theory on steroids.”
On the night of Sept. 11, 2012, U.S. officials have said, at least 20 militants armed 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 Stevens, the ambassador, and State Department employee Sean Smith. Other State Department personnel escaped to a nearby U.S. 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.
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This story has been corrected to show the suspect arrived at an airfield in Virginia, not at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland as Bondi announced.
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Associated Press writers Michael Kunzelman and Meg Kinnard contributed to this report.
