Justice Department announces arrest of ‘key participant’ in 2012 Benghazi attack

Justice Department officials on Friday announced the arrest of a man they described as “a key participant” in the 2012 attack in Benghazi, Libya, that killed a U.S. ambassador and three other Americans.

Zubayr al-Bakoush was taken into custody and arrived in the United States just after 3 a.m. Friday, Attorney General Pam Bondi said. He will face charges including murder, terrorism and arson.

Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel sidestepped questions about where al-Bakoush’s arrest took place and whether it was made with the assistance of foreign nations.

“We have never stopped seeking justice for that crime against our nation,” Bondi said.

The Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. compound in Benghazi has persisted as a divisive political issue in the nearly 14 years since the deaths of Ambassador Chris Stevens, State Department employee Sean Smith and two CIA contractors.

Republicans sharply criticized the Obama administration and especially then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, alleging security failures at the facility and what they described as a slow response to the violence. Democrats have defended their efforts to investigate and prosecute crimes, noting that the Justice Department by late 2013 had filed sealed complaints against roughly a dozen militants accused of playing a role in the attack.

Two Libyan men - Ahmed Abu Khattala, the alleged mastermind of the attack, and Mustafa al-Imam - have been convicted in U.S. courts and sentenced to prison.

Al-Bakoush was initially charged in Washington in 2015 during the Obama administration, said Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney in Washington whose office will oversee his prosecution.