Suspect in deadly 2012 Benghazi attack in custody, officials say
A suspect accused of being a "key participant" in the deadly attack on an American consulate in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012 has been taken into US custody, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced.
Zubayr Al-Bakoush arrived at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Friday, Attorney General Pam Bondi said during a news conference.
He is being charged with eight counts, including two murder charges for the deaths of US ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and state department employee Sean Smith.
Bondi said the US would continue its pursuit of additional suspects in the case, warning that an arrest "might not happen overnight, but it will happen. You can run, but you cannot hide".
During the news conference on Friday, Bondi was joined by FBI Director Kash Patel and US attorney Jeanine Pirro.
Patel said he was with Pirro earlier on Friday, when Al-Bakoush arrived at Joint Base Andrews, a military base in Maryland, around 03:00 EST (08:00 GMT).
Patel described Al-Bakoush's capture as an interagency effort.
"In order to execute an apprehension, a capture and a foreign transfer of custody, no one agency alone can do it," Patel said, adding that the US worked with "partners overseas".
Patel said the operation included "special tactical assets", including FBI agents and medical personnel.
When asked, he would not specify where Al-Bakoush had arrived from.
Pirro said Al-Bakoush was first charged in 2015, and that the eight-count indictment against him ha recently been unsealed.
It includes two counts of murder, one count of attempted murder, one count of arson, and conspiracy to provide materials for terrorists that resulted in the death of four Americans.
In addition to Stevens, information technology specialist Smith and security workers and ex-Navy Seals Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty were killed in the attack on 11 September 2012.
The attack was a politically fraught issue for then-President Barack Obama, and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who Republicans had blamed for an untimely response and security failures at the facility.
Two other people have been prosecuted for their roles in the attack. In 2017 Libyan militant Ahmed Abu Khattala was jailed for his role in the attack and Libyan Mustafa al-Imam was sentenced to more than 19 years in prison in 2019.
