US snatches, charges suspect in 2012 Benghazi raid

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said Monday that US special forces had captured a man linked to the 2012 attack on the American mission in the Libyan city of Benghazi.

“Yesterday, on my orders, United States forces captured Mustafa alImam in Libya,” Trump said in a statement, which came as the White House was rocked by the indictment of three campaign aides.

Trump said Imam “will face justice in the United States for his alleged role in the Sept 11, 2012 attacks in Benghazi.”

Shortly afterwards, the US Attorney’s Office for Washington announced that Imam, described as being approximately 46 years old, had been charged.

Under a recently unsealed three- charge complaint, Imam will be tried for “killing a person in the course of an attack on a federal facility involving a firearm.”

He also faces a firearms charge and one of providing “material support to terrorists resulting in death.”

An alleged mastermind of the attack, 46-year- old Ahmed Abu Khattala, is already on trial in the United States, accused of being a commander of the Ansar al-Sharia militia.

The attack killed US ambassador Chris Stevens as well as three other American personnel, and became emblematic of conservative opposition to then secretary of state Hillary Clinton.

Several congressional investigations were launched, along with a State Department security review, into both the handling of the attack and how it was described in the media.

Clinton was never convincingly tagged with wrongdoing or negligence, but the issue haunted her failed 2016 presidential campaign and may have contributed to Trump’s victory.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson welcomed Trump’s announcement.

“I am deeply grateful to the US military, law enforcement and intelligence community for their efforts to bring to justice the perpetrators of the Sept 11, 2012 terrorist attacks,” he said.

Tillerson said he had spoken to some of the relatives of those killed in the raid “to underscore the US government’s unwavering support.”

On Sept 11, 2012 fighters launched a surprise attack on a US diplomatic compound in Benghazi.

The eastern city had been a hotbed of support for the rebels who the year previously, backed by Nato bombing runs, had overthrown dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

But since the fall of the regime, like many areas of Libya, it had fallen prey to faction fighting among rival militias – including some inspired by global jihadist groups.

Then president Barack Obama’s government was criticised for, in some initial reactions, ascribing the attack to regional popular anger over a US-produced, amateur anti-Islam film. — AFP