Tripoli: US commandos violated Libya’s sovereignty when they seized the suspected ringleader of a deadly 2012 attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, the foreign ministry said on Wednesday.
Special forces carried out Sunday’s stealth operation under cover of night, capturing Ahmed Abu Khatallah near Benghazi and spiriting him out of the country.
“The government condemns this regrettable infringement on Libya’s sovereignty,” foreign ministry spokesman Said Lassoued said.
US federal prosecutors have charged Abu Khatallah with murder, carrying a weapon and offering material support to “terrorism.”
US officials said Khattalah was being held on the Navy ship USS New York in the Mediterranean Sea.
Khattalah, who was captured Sunday on the outskirts of Benghazi by US special forces, will be taken to the US to face what President Barack Obama called “the full weight of the American justice system.”
