U.S. authorities announced Friday that Zubayr Al-Bakoush has been taken into custody in connection with the 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Officials said the arrest brings renewed focus to one of the most significant national security cases of the past decade.
Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel and U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro confirmed that Al-Bakoush is now in U.S. custody and faces federal charges related to the attack. According to officials, the charges include murder and other terrorism-related offenses stemming from the assault on the diplomatic facility.
Authorities said Al-Bakoush was apprehended overseas and transported to Virginia, though details about the location of his arrest were not disclosed. Federal officials cited security and operational concerns in declining to provide additional information about how or where the arrest was carried out.
Pirro said Al-Bakoush was initially charged in a sealed criminal complaint in 2015 and is now named in an unsealed eight-count indictment. The indictment alleges involvement in the deaths of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, State Department employee Sean Smith, and CIA contractors Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods, as well as an attempted murder charge involving a State Department security agent.
The September 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. Special Mission in Benghazi resulted in the deaths of four Americans and remains one of the deadliest attacks on U.S. diplomatic personnel in recent history. Officials said the case underscores the government’s continued efforts to pursue accountability in terrorism-related investigations, regardless of how much time has passed.