WASHINGTON: An alleged participant in the deadly 2012 attack on the US compound in Benghazi, Libya, has been taken into custody to face prosecution for the rampage that killed four Americans and emerged as a divisive political issue, the Justice Department said Friday.
Zubayar Al-Bakoush, identified by officials as a member of an extremist militia in Libya, had been wanted by the United States for more than a decade. He is accused in a newly unsealed indictment of joining a mob that crashed the front gates of the diplomatic mission with assault rifles and explosives, setting off hours of violence that also included deadly fires.
Al-Bakoush arrived early Friday at an airfield in Virginia after what FBI Director Kash Patel described as a “transfer of custody” and will face charges in Washington, including murder, attempted murder, arson and conspiring to provide material support to terrorists.
Al-Bakoush, 58, appeared Friday afternoon in federal court in Washington, wearing a gray hoodie and using a wheelchair. He did not enter a plea and answered routine questions from a federal magistrate through an interpreter who appeared remotely. He was ordered detained until a hearing tentatively set for next week.
