Tripoli, Libya (PANA) – The Libyan government strongly condemned the capture, on its territory by the United States special forces, of a Libyan Islamist, suspected of being responsible for the terrorist attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi in September 2012, demanding his return for trial in Libya.
“The Libyan government condemns the arrest of Ahmed Abou Khattala,” said a statement read on Wednesday by the Libyan deputy minister of foreign affairs, Said Al-Assoued in the presence of Justice minister, Salah Al-Marghani.
The government that was not informed of the operation carried out on Sunday by the US Special Forces to capture Ahmed Abou Khattala in the eastern city of Benghazi, said the action was a violation of its sovereignty.
The government called on the US to take care of the health and physical well being of the accused while guaranteeing him access to justice, reaffirming the right for Libya to try Abou Khattala.
“We expect the world to help us tighten security and we hope the US, as fellow-country, helps us rather than contributing to trouble the security situation in the country », he said.
On 11 September 2012, a terrorist attack, one of the most violent against foreign interests in Libya, targeted the US consulate in Benghazi, killing ambassador Chris Steven and three other US diplomats.
The US Congress, under pressure from the Republicans, recently ordered the establishment of an investigation commission into circumstances leading to the attack, attributed to Al Qaida and in which the Obama administration was accused of negligence.
This is the second raid carried out by the US Special Forces in Libya, after the capture in October 2013 of Abou Anas Al-Libi, one of the alleged Al Qaida leaders wanted by the US for his role in the bloody attacks in 1998 against the US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya.
