iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — U.S. special operations forces conducted a raid in Libya on Saturday that captured a militant believed to have played a key role in the deadly 2012 attack on the Benghazi consulate, according to U.S. officials. That attack killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other American.
The unnamed militant was transferred to a ship offshore at some point after the capture and may still be aboard, according to an official.
The plan is to transfer the militant back to the U.S. for prosecution in federal court, said another official.
Complete details of this weekend’s secret raid into Libya are still unknown. Typically “snatch and grab” missions like this are conducted by elite special operations teams like Delta Force or SEAL Team Six.
In July 2014, the elite Delta Force captured Ahmed Abu Khatallah at his home in Benghazi. The militia leader was an alleged ringleader of the Benghazi attack two years earlier.
Khatallah was transferred to a U.S. Navy ship offshore and was transported to the U.S. for prosecution in a federal court.
His trial began earlier this month in Washington, D.C.
Copyright © 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.