U.S. officials have taken Ahmed Abu Khattala, the suspected leader of the terrorist attack against U.S. diplomatic building in Benghazi, into custody after a secret raid this past weekend.
According to USA Today, The Pentagon declared Tuesday that U.S. Special Operation forces have imprisoned Khattala, the senior Benghazi leader of the Ansar al-Sharia terrorist group, after performing a secret attack in Libya this past weekend. Khattala is currently being held hostage in an area outside of Libya.
Capturing Khattala is a great U.S. victory after an two investigation that had been ongoing for two years on the attack that killed U.S. ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three others.
President Barrack Obama announced a while ago that he would rapidly punish those involved in the terrorist act. However, tension in Libya had delayed his response. Officials noted that there had been a plan to take Khattala captive, but that the plan had been pushed to the side of Obama’s desk to await approval. The Obama administration claims that the reason the plan had not been executed sooner is due to violence that erupted in Libya and the need to obtain more evidence to pronounce Khattala guilty, according to The New York Times.
No civilians were injured in the secret raid. Officials have yet to announce when Khattala will be moved to the U.S.