UPDATED, 1:33 p.m. ET
U.S. special forces captured a suspected ringleader of the September 2012 Benghazi terrorist attack in a secret raid in Libya over the weekend, the White House and Pentagon said Tuesday.
Ahmed Abu Khattalah is now in U.S. custody "in a secure location outside Libya," the Pentagon said. The FBI charged Khattalah last year in the attack on the U.S. compound in Benghazi, which killed four Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens.
President Barack Obama said in a statement that he had authorized the operation to detain Khattalah, and he credited U.S. military, law enforcement and intelligence personnel with carrying out the mission.
"The United States has once again demonstrated that we will do whatever it takes to see that justice is done when people harm Americans," Obama wrote.
The capture was first reported by The Washington Post, which delayed publishing the story after a request by the U.S. government.
Rear Admiral John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, confirmed the news in a statement:
I can confirm that on Sunday, June 15 the U.S. Military -- in cooperation with law enforcement personnel -- captured Ahmed Abu Khatallah, a key figure in the attacks on U.S. facilities in Benghazi, Libya, in September 2012. He is in U.S. custody in a secure location outside of Libya. There were no civilian casualties related to this operation, and all U.S. personnel involved in the operation have safely departed Libya.
Calling Khattalah a "key figure in the attack," White House press secretary Jay Carney said the operation, which included U.S. military and law enforcement personnel, "marks an important milestone."
Carney confirms Benghazi suspect is in custody, "outside Libya." Says US has made it clear it would "go to any lengths" to find perperators— lesley clark (@lesleyclark) June 17, 2014
"When it comes to doing what the U.S. said we would do ... we fulfill our commitments," Carney said.
ABC News’s Luis Martinez reports the suspect is aboard a US Navy ship in the Mediterranean.
In January, the U.S. designated Khattalah as a terrorist and linked his group, Ansar al-Shari'a in Benghazi, to the attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, on Sept. 11, 2012.
The FBI criminal complaint was unsealed in federal court in Washington:
Here is the criminal complaint against Khatallah pic.twitter.com/IUB52ANy9W— Sam Stein (@samsteinhp) June 17, 2014
The attack marked the first time an American ambassador had been killed abroad since 1979.
The Obama administration claimed the perpetrators would be brought to justice, but over time had faced growing criticism over its inability to do so.
Just one month after the attack in October 2012, in an interview with The New York Times, Khattalah scoffed at the U.S. and Libyan government's efforts to find those responsible, accusing Obama of “playing with the emotions of the American people" and calling the Libyan army "national chicken."
He has met with a handful of U.S. media outlets since the attack — The New York Times, Reuters, the Times of London and CNN — oftentimes being described as casual, relaxed and “not a man who is in hiding.”
Khattalah had insisted at the time that he played no role in the attack, suggesting instead that it grew out of a protest over a YouTube video and that guards there had fired first. Officials deny that the YouTube video was the primary cause of the attack.
"From a religious point of view, it is hard to say whether it is good or bad," Khattalah said of the attack.
The Benghazi attack has served as a rallying cry for some Republicans, who have accused the Obama administration of failing to protect the U.S. compound and then misrepresenting the incident as a protest gone wrong instead of terrorism. Hillary Clinton, who was secretary of state at the time, has faced harsh criticism from conservatives; she was already scheduled to appear on Fox News on Tuesday night to promote her new book, which means her interview will now be even more closely watched.
Benghazi suspect capture news comes just hours before Hillary Clinton's live interview with Fox News. I suspect it will come up.— Alex Weprin (@alexweprin) June 17, 2014