U.S. takes custody of suspect in 2012 consulate attack in Benghazi

Feb. 6 (UPI) — Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Friday that the United States took custody of a suspect in the 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, killing four Americans and setting off a political in Washington, D.C.

Zubayar al-Bakoush faces an eight-count indictment charging him with murder for the deaths of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and State Department employee Sean Smith, both killed in the Sept. 11, 2012, attack. The indictment was brought in 2015.

“Al-Bakoush will now face American justice on American soil,” Bondi said in a news conference alongside FBI Director Kash Patel and U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeannie Pirro.

The attackers also targeted a CIA building about a mile away from the consulate, killing CIA contractors Tyrone S. Woods and Glen Doherty and injuring 10 others.

Bondi didn’t clarify what agency arrested al-Bakoush or when and where his detainment took place. She said he arrived in the United States on Friday at Joint Base Andrews.

Later designated a terror organization, the U.S. government blamed the 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound on Ansar al-Sharia. The suspected ringleader of the attack, Ahmed Abu Khattala, was acquitted of most of the more serious charges he faced but was ultimately sentenced to 28 years in prison.

In 2019, a federal jury in Washington, D.C., partially convicted Mustafa al-Imam on one count each of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists and maliciously destroying government property for his role in the attack. He was sentenced to more than 19 years in prison.

The consulate attack kicked off several internal investigations in the U.S. government, all of which determined that while there was a “tragic failure of leadership,” there was no direct wrongdoing among officials. Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton claimed responsibility for security lapses at the compound, saying that as head of the State Department, the security at U.S. diplomatic missions overseas was her job.

Clinton faced hours-long questioning by the House Select Committee on Benghazi in 2015 on her policy decisions and security issues in the days leading up to the attack. Critics of the Republican-led committee accused lawmakers of using the investigation to derail Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, which she lost to President Donald Trump.