Report: Egypt Nabs Terror Suspect Linked to Benghazi Attack
Egyptian authorities have detained a suspected terror network ringleader whose operatives are believed to have carried out a deadly attack on a U.S. mission in Libya, a report said Friday.
Mohammed Jamal Abu Ahmed -- a former member of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, who was freed from prison in March 2011 following the ouster of Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak -- was captured in the past week, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed U.S. officials.
When asked about the report, one U.S. official confirmed to Agence France Presse that Abu Ahmed had been detained, without providing further details.
U.S. intelligence played a role in the detention, one official told the Journal. It was not immediately clear where or how the suspect -- who is thought to be about 45 years old -- was caught.
The U.S. ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, and three other Americans were killed in the September 11 assault on the U.S. mission in Benghazi.
Since his release from prison, Ahmed has been assembling a team of operatives, with training camps in Libya and Egypt, and he has received funding from al-Qaida's branch in Yemen, the Wall Street Journal said.
Egypt has yet to announce Ahmed's capture. U.S. officials have not yet been able to question the suspect, the report said.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will testify this month before U.S. lawmakers at Senate and House hearings about the deadly September attack, top lawmakers said Friday.
Clinton "has committed to testify before the committee before the end of the session" of Congress, Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a letter to fellow members.
Kerry said the top U.S. diplomat will discuss findings of the State Department's Accountability Review Board, which other officials said was expected to release its Benghazi findings next week.
No specific date was given, and the letter did not clarify whether the hearing would be open to the public. The next session of Congress starts on January 3, but typically lawmakers wrap up business by the end of the year.
Clinton is also due to testify before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs "to discuss, in an open hearing, the findings and recommendations" of the review board, committee chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said.
Ros-Lehtinen's office said the board's report was due to be released next week, and that Clinton would testify "soon thereafter."
No specific date was given for Clinton's testimony for the House committee, either. It was however unlikely that she would testify next week, as she is due to leave Monday on a trip to north Africa and Abu Dhabi.
The lawmaker said she hoped Clinton would discuss "corrective measures" undertaken by the State Department in the wake of the attack, specifically on "security of our posts, threat assessments, host government responsibilities, and coordination with other U.S. security agencies."
Source: Agence France Presse
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