Ringleader behind attack that killed US envoy
A former al-Qaeda terrorist released from Guantanamo Bay is believed to be the leader of the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans, including the US Ambassador, it was revealed on Wednesday.
Sufyan Ben Qumu, who was reportedly once Osama bin Laden's driver, was let out of the US military detention center in Cuba in 2007 and turned over to the government of Muammar Gaddafi on condition he be kept behind bars.
Now, Fox News reports he may have led the September 11 attack on the American consulate that resulted in the death of John Christopher Stevens -- the first US Ambassador killed by violence overseas since 1979.
The US military characterized him as a 'medium to high' risk to national security while he was in US custody and he refused to cooperate with authorities and explain his past associations with Islamic extremists.
Qumu, 53, is a Libyan army veteran who was jailed by Qaddafi and later escaped and moved to Sudan, where he worked for one of Osama bin Laden's holding companies.
He also fought against the Soviets in Afghanistan with the Mujaheddin. Later he took up arms against the Northern Alliance and fought alongside the Tabliban.
Later, he moved to Pakistan and slipped across the border into Afghanistan, where he began working at a charity that was a front for al-Qaeda in the summer of 2001.
He was arrested in Pakistan by local authorities shortly after the US invasion of Afghanistan. He was taken to the Guantanamo Bay detention center and held there for six years.
Despite his lengthy association with extremists, including the 9-11 mastermind and al-Qaeda leader himself, the military recommended in a 2005 report sending him back to his home country of Libya.
In 2007, Qumu was released from Gitmo and turned over to Gaddafi on condition that he be kept in prison.
But, in 2010 Gaddafi freed him from the notorious Abu Salim prison in Tripoli, along with 37 other prisoners, to celebrate the dictator's 41st year in power. During the uprising, Qumu emerged as a leader of the rebels.
He was a tank driver during his time in the Libyan army, though he had been arrested several times on drug and alcohol offenses.
The report came as a senior US official called the assault on the American diplomatic outpost a 'terrorist attack.'
'We are looking at indications that individuals involved in the attack may have had connections to al Qaeda or al Qaeda's affiliates, in particular al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb,' Mr Olsen told the Senate.