US seizes Syrian man over Benghazi attack
He allegedly had links to the suspected ringleader, who was snatched in 2014
Aman seized by US forces in Libya for being involved in an attack that killed the US ambassador in Benghazi in 2012 is a Syrian with links to the suspected ringleader, Libyan military officials said yesterday.
US special forces captured Mustafa Al Imam in the past few days and he is being transported to the US, US officials said on Monday, without giving more details.
Eastern-based military officials told Reuters Al Imam was believed to be a Syrian aged between 35 and 40. He lived in the Benghazi district of Laithi where he frequented the same Al Awza’i mosque as suspected ringleader Ahmad Abu Khatallah who was snatched by US forces in 2014. US prosecutors opened their case against Khatallah last month.
Al Imam has been charged with “killing a person in the course of an attack on a federal facility” and providing “material support to terrorists resulting in death,” the US Justice Department said. He will appear before a federal judge in Washington.
An eastern news agency backing the LNA published what it said was a picture of Al Imam standing in front of the Benghazi barracks of an armed At least 12 people were killed in an air strike in Libya’s Derna on Monday.
Most of the victims, including women and children, are from the same family, a source at the Harish hospital said, adding that three people were left critically wounded.
It was not clear who carried out the strike. group. It said he had been captured by US forces in the western city of Misrata.
The Benghazi attack, which killed ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans, was the topic of numerous congressional hearings, with Republican lawmakers critical of the way in which then-secretary of state Hillary Clinton handled the attack.