By Adam Goldman, Published: January 7
U.S. officials suspect that a former Guantanamo Bay detainee played a role in the attack on the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, and are planning to designate the group he leads as a foreign terrorist organization, according to officials familiar with the plans.
Militiamen under the command of Abu Sufian bin Qumu, the leader of Ansar al-Sharia in the Libyan city of Darnah, participated in the attack that killed U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans, U.S. officials said....
According to U.S. military files disclosed by the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks, Qumu trained in 1993 at one of Osama bin Laden’s terrorist camps in Afghanistan and later worked for a bin Laden company in Sudan, where the al-Qaeda leader lived for three years.
Qumu fought alongside the Taliban against the United States in Afghanistan; he then fled to Pakistan and was later arrested in Peshawar. He was turned over to the United States and held at Guantanamo Bay.
He has a “long-term association with Islamic extremist jihad and members of al-Qaida and other extremist groups,” according to the military files. “Detainee’s alias is found on a list of probable al-Qaida personnel receiving monthly stipends.”
Qumu also had links to Zayn al-Abidin Muhammed Hussein, known by his alias Abu Zubaida, a key al-Qaeda facilitator who is being held indefinitely at Guantanamo...
The day before the raid, anti-American violence erupted in the Middle East, North Africa and elsewhere when al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri called on followers to avenge the death of Abu Yahya al-Libi, the terrorist group’s No. 2, who was killed in a CIA drone strike. Officials, however, said there is no evidence that al-Qaeda’s core leadership was directly tied to the assault on the compound in Benghazi.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/...9b2_story.html
Published January 10, 2014
The State Department on Friday for the first time blamed specific groups and militants for the 2012 Benghazi attack, designating them as terrorists -- a move that further undermines initial claims the attack was spontaneous.
The department announced that it was labeling Ansar al-Sharia in Benghazi and Ansar al-Sharia in Darnah as terror organizations, in part over their role in the Benghazi attack. It applied the same label to Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia, over a separate attack on Americans in Tunis.
The State Department also labeled as terrorists Sufian bin Qumu, head of the Darnah branch and a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, and Ahmed Abu Khattalah, head of the Benghazi branch.
Fox News previously reported that the two were suspected of playing a role in the attack. And despite State Department claims that Al Qaeda leadership was not involved and a recent news report echoing that assessment,
Fox News has learned that
bin Qumu has Al Qaeda ties.
According to his Guantanamo file, he has historic ties to the Al Qaeda network, including training at one point at "Usama bin Laden's Torkham camp." ....
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014...6pLid%3D429179
January 10, 2014 3:00 pm
The State Department designated three branches of the group Ansar al-Sharia as foreign terrorist organizations on Friday, including two branches that officials said were involved in the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya.
Ansar al-Sharia’s branches in Benghazi, Darnah, and Tunisia were declared “foreign terrorist organizations” and “specially designated global terrorist entities” and will now be subject to prohibitions on outside support and freezes of U.S. assets. The leaders of the three branches—Ahmed Abu Khattalah, Sufian bin Qumu, and Seifallah Ben Hassine, respectively—were also labeled as “specially designated global terrorists.”
The source of the Benghazi attacks has been a matter of contentious debate. U.S. officials originally said the assault was spontaneous and in retaliation of an American-made video disparaging Islam, but evidence later surfaced that terrorists photographed the diplomatic compound beforehand and were equipped with assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, and mortars.
The
Washington Post reported on Tuesday that Qumu, leader of the Ansar al-Sharia branch in Darnah and a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, participated in the Benghazi attacks and was trained in 1993 at one of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden’s terrorist camps in Afghanistan. However, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki maintained on Wednesday that the Ansar al-Sharia groups are not “official affiliates of core al Qaeda.”
http://freebeacon.com/state-dept-des...organizations/
Odumbo and Hildabeast have no credibility.
Another Benghazi Thread
