BENGHAZI, Libya (AP) — There's word of arrests in Libya, in the killing of the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans.
A Libyan official says an unspecified number of militants suspected of taking part in the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi have been arrested. And he says others are being closely monitored by police to see whether they are linked to a group.
The official, a deputy interior minister, also says the attacks were an organized two-part operation by heavily-armed militants. He says the operation included a precisely-timed raid on what was supposed to be a secret safe house, just as Libyan and U.S. security forces were arriving to rescue consulate staff.
According to the Libyan official, the attacks may have been timed to mark the 9/11 anniversary. He says the militants used civilians protesting an anti-Islam film as a cover for their actions.
He also says infiltrators within the security forces may have tipped off militants to the location of the safe house.
The official says Ambassador Chris Stevens and another American were killed in the consulate during the initial violence, as plainclothes Libyan security evacuated the staff to the safe house about a mile away. The second assault took place several hours later and targeted the safe house -- a villa inside the grounds of the city's equestrian club. That attack killed two more Americans and wounded a number of Americans and Libyans.
%@AP Links
239-a-17-(Victoria Nuland, State Department spokeswoman, at briefing)-"overcame the building"-State Department spokeswoman says a regional security officer attempted to lead Chris Stevens and Sean Smith out of the burning consulate, but got separated from them. (13 Sep 2012)
<<CUT *239 (09/13/12)>> 00:17 "overcame the building"
241-a-16-(Victoria Nuland, State Department spokeswoman, at briefing)-"inside the perimeter"-State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland says security requirements at embassies and consulates in Libya and other countries are being assessed. (13 Sep 2012)
<<CUT *241 (09/13/12)>> 00:16 "inside the perimeter"
GRAPHICSBANK: Damage inside US Consulate after attack that killed US Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens, Benghazi, Libya, on texture, partial graphic (13 Sep 2012)
GRAPHICSBANK: Damage inside US Consulate after attack that killed US Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens, Benghazi, Libya, on texture, partial graphic (13 Sep 2012)
APPHOTO CAI303: FILE - In this Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2012 file photo, a man walks on the grounds of the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, after an attack that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens. The attacks against U.S. diplomatic targets appear part of wider power plays by Salafis and other extremists to challenge the leadership struggling for stability in places such Egypt and Libya. (AP Photo/Ibrahim Alaguri, File) (12 Sep 2012)
<<APPHOTO CAI303 (09/12/12)>>
APPHOTO MH109: A Libyan man investigates the inside of the U.S. Consulate, after an attack that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens on the night of Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2012, in Benghazi, Libya, Thursday, Sept. 13, 2012. The American ambassador to Libya and three other Americans were killed when a mob of protesters and gunmen overwhelmed the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, setting fire to it in outrage over a film that ridicules Islam's Prophet Muhammad. Ambassador Chris Stevens, 52, died as he and a group of embassy employees went to the consulate to try to evacuate staff as a crowd of hundreds attacked the consulate Tuesday evening, many of them firing machine-guns and rocket-propelled grenades. (AP Photo/Mohammad Hannon) (13 Sep 2012)
<<APPHOTO MH109 (09/13/12)>>
