Thursday, September 13, 2012

US Embassy Attacks: Libyan Rebels Make First Arrests

US embassy attacks: Libya makes first arrests

The Libyan government announced the first arrests over the Benghazi consulate attack as suspicion focused on two militant Islamist groups in the area.

By Alex Spillius, Diplomatic Correspondent
8:22PM BST 13 Sep 2012

Mustafa Abu Shagur, the Libyan prime minister, said "a big advance" had been made in the inquiry, though he refused to give specific details.

The US government is investigating whether al Qaeda-linked extremists were behind Tuesday night's raid, rather than simply a spontaneous mob of protesters.

That suggestion strengthened yesterday when Libyan officials said a farm near the consulate had been used as a base to launch some of the attacks.

Barack Obama has already dispatched 50 US marines and two warships to the region in the wake of the attacks, while Eric Holder, the US attorney general, confirmed yesterday that the FBI would help with the investigation.

Last night, Mr Shagur said the Libyan authorities had already made a breakthrough, announcing that the first suspects had been arrested.

"We have some names and some photographs. Arrests have been made and more are under way as we speak," he said.

An Libyan interior ministry spokesman however warned that the inquiry would be "very complicated" because the crowd outside the consulate had been very mixed.

"There were extremists, ordinary citizens, women, children and criminals," he said. "There were also shots fired from a nearby farm. We need time to determine who was responsible."

Ahmad Jibril, the Libyan deputy ambassador in London, has named Ansar al-Sharia (Protectors of the Islamic Law) as the perpetrators of the attack.

"The group has carried out several terrorist attacks within the last few weeks and also the killing of some Libyan officials, especially in Benghazi," he said.

Affiliated with other groups in Tunisia and Yemen of the same name, Ansar is led by a Mohammed Zahawi and emerged during the uprising against Col Muammar Gaddafi.

The group then tried and failed to set up an Islamist state in eastern Libya before reportedly resorting to regular acts of intimidation and violence.

After the attack on Tuesday evening it issued a statement that was neither a denial nor a claim of responsibility.

It said the group "didn't participate as a sole entity", but it "was carrying out its duties in al-Jala'a hospital and other places where it was entrusted with some duties".

In a statement yesterday it however sought to distance itself from the attacks, condemning "the accusations without any verification or investigation".

The other group that has come into focus is the Imprisoned Omar Abdul Rahman Brigade, named after the "blind sheikh" jailed in the US for conspiracy in the bombing of the New York World Trade Centre in 1993.

The brigade claimed to be behind several attacks on Western targets in Benghazi in the summer, including the US consulate, a vehicle carrying Dominic Asquith, the British ambassador, and the office of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Noman Benotman, a former Libyan militant now based at the Quilliam Foundation, a counter-extremism think tank in London, said the brigade was a chief suspect.

He noted that the assault immediately followed a eulogy from al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri for the death of his second-in-command Abu Yahya al-Libi in June.

When the brigade claimed to have attacked the US consulate earlier, it cited al-Libi's killing in Pakistan by a US drone.

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