One person has officially been arrested for the Libyan attack on the US Embassy in Benghazi, and three other people are being pursued by Libyan authorities.
While news reports have said that a Libyan official announced the arrest of four people, the Libyan Prime Minister has only confirmed one arrest so far, reports The Wall Street Journal .
The Libyans have organized a multiagency task force in order to combine all of their available resources to hunt down those responsible for the Embassy attack, which resulted in the deaths of four Americans, including the US ambassador to Libya.
Those being hunted are suspected Islamic militants, and Libyans have worked to include intelligence, defense, and interior officials in their search. The Libyan official declined to say exactly how many suspects they are watching, citing the ongoing investigation. The official stated:
“There is a group now that is under our custody, but there is a group we’re following to know who’s connected to them, and they are monitoring their phone calls.”
Yesterday, Libyan officials announced that a farm near the consulate had been used as a base to launch some of the attacks, according to The Telegraph .
The US government is also investigating whether al Qaeda-linked extremists were responsible for Tuesday’s raid on the consulate. President Barack Obama has also dispatched 50 US Marines and two warships to the region following the tragic attacks. Prime Minister Shagur stated last night that:
“We have some names and some photographs. Arrests have been made and more are under way as we speak.”
A Libyan interior ministry spokesman warned that the inquiry will be complicated, because of the mixed crowd outside the consulate. The spokesman stated:
“There were extremists, ordinary citizens, women, children and criminals. There were also shots fired from a nearby farm. We need time to determine who was responsible.”
The Libyan deputy ambassador in London, Ahmad Jibril, believes the attack was coordinated and carried out by Ansar al-Sharia (Protectors of the Islamic Law). Jibril stated that, “The group has carried out several terrorist attacks within the last few weeks and also the killing of some Libyan officials, especially in Benghazi.”
