{"id":746574,"date":"2026-02-06T16:11:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T16:11:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/746574\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T16:11:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T16:11:16","slug":"benghazi-attack-suspect-arrested-14-years-after-ambush-on-us-compound-killed-four-americans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/746574\/","title":{"rendered":"Benghazi attack suspect arrested 14 years after ambush on US compound killed four Americans"},"content":{"rendered":"

A suspect<\/a> in the 2012 attack<\/a> on a U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya<\/a>, that killed four Americans has been taken into custody.<\/p>\n

Zubayr Al-Bakoush was arrested and landed at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland at 3 a.m. Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have never stopped seeking justice for that crime against our nation,\u201d Attorney General Pam Bondi<\/a> said at a news conference hours later.<\/p>\n

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said an eight-count indictment charged Al-Bakoush with crimes including the murders of Ambassador Chris Stevens and State Department employee Sean Smith. It was unclear if Al-Bakoush had an attorney representing him.<\/p>\n

The 2012 attack on the U.S. compound immediately emerged as a divisive political issue as Republicans challenged President Barack Obama<\/a> and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton<\/a> on security at the facility, the military response to the violence and the administration\u2019s changing narrative about who was responsible and why.<\/p>\n

\"U.S.<\/p>\n

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said an eight-count indictment charged Al-Bakoush with crimes including the murders of Ambassador Chris Stevens and State Department employee Sean Smith (AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

A final report by a Republican-led congressional panel faulted the Obama administration for security deficiencies at the Libyan outpost and a slow response to the attacks. The report, however, found no wrongdoing by Clinton.<\/p>\n

Clinton dismissed the report as an echo of previous probes with no new discoveries, saying it was \u201ctime to move on.\u201d Other Democrats denounced the Republicans\u2019 report as \u201ca conspiracy theory on steroids.”<\/p>\n

On the night of Sept. 11, 2012, U.S. officials have said, at least 20 militants armed with AK-47s and grenade launchers breached the gate of the consulate compound and set buildings on fire.<\/p>\n

The fire led to the deaths of Stevens and Smith. Other State Department personnel escaped to a nearby U.S. facility known as the annex.<\/p>\n

A large group assembled for an attack on the annex. That attack, including a precision mortar barrage, resulted in the deaths of security officers Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty.<\/p>\n

A Libyan militant suspected of being a mastermind of the attacks, Ahmed Abu Khattala, was captured by U.S. special forces in 2014 and was brought to Washington for prosecution. He was convicted and is serving a prison sentence. His attorneys argued that the evidence was inconclusive and that he was singled out because of his ultra-conservative Muslim beliefs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A suspect in the 2012 attack on a U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":704999,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5311],"tags":[6904,220503,18510,188791,220504,110788,85141,49,978,659],"class_list":["post-746574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-barack-obama","tag-chris-stevens","tag-hillary-clinton","tag-jeanine-pirro","tag-joint-base-andrews","tag-sean-smith","tag-state-department","tag-united-states","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116024566373717287","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=746574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746574\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/704999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=746574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=746574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=746574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}