A man identified as a key participant in the 2012 attack that killed four Americans in a U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya, is in custody, the Department of Justice said Friday.
Zubayar Al-Bakoush, a member of an extremist militia in Libya, had been wanted by the U.S. for more than a decade, The Associated Press reports. DOJ officials said he joined a mob of armed men that broke into the compound during a 13-hour firefight.
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The attack became a major political issue after Republicans criticized then-President Barack Obama and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for their response to the attack.
Who did the US capture?
The DOJ said Al-Bakoush faces charges of murder, attempted murder, arson and conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorism organization. The FBI and DOJ did not say how authorities brought him into custody or when he would appear in court. However, FBI Director Kash Patel referred to Al-Bakoush’s arrest as a “transfer of custody.” The New York Times reported that U.S. officials had long believed he was living in Libya.
The U.S. arrested the alleged leader of the attack, Ahmed Abu Khattala, in 2014. A jury later convicted him for his role in the assault.
Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Al-Bakoush’s arrest in a joint press conference Friday with Patel and Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C. Bondi said the U.S. had never stopped looking for those responsible for the attack.
She told reporters that Al-Bakoush will be tried in Washington.
What happened during the attack?
The assault in Benghazi occurred the night of Sep. 11, 2012, the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Officials reported that at least 20 militants armed with AK-style rifles and grenade launchers infiltrated the U.S. compound and began pounding the building with rifle fire and grenades.
The militants set fire to the building, killing Ambassador Christopher Stevens and State Department employee Sean Smith. Others who were inside the building were able to escape to a nearby facility called the annex.
The armed group followed and began an assault on that building, using their weapons from the first attack, along with a precision mortar barrage. Two security officers, Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty, died after mortar rounds bombarded their position on the roof of the annex, according to officials. Doherty had just moved to the roof to look for Woods when the first mortar hit Woods, fatally wounding him. Doherty had moved to another position when a second mortar round slammed into him, killing him.
What was the political backlash from the attack?
Almost immediately after the attack, Republicans criticized the response by Obama and Clinton, saying they were unprepared. A Republican-led congressional panel launched an investigation that led to a final report almost four years later, in June 2016. The report blamed the Obama administration for lapses in security measures and a poor response to the attack. However, the panel found no wrongdoing by Clinton.
She and other Democrats criticized the investigation as politically motivated. Clinton said that it was “time to move on.”
The panel released its report just months before Clinton was to face off against then-candidate Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election. Some have cited the controversy as one reason Clinton lost the election.
