Libyan Security Compound in Benghazi Attacked by Militant Islamists

On Friday, May 2, 2014, a radical Islamist group stormed Libya’s security headquarters in Benghazi, leaving up to nine dead and over a dozen wounded.

Libyan army officials said among the dead were some of Libya’s police officers and military units. A firefight broke out in the early morning hours, and Libyan special forces were sent in to combat the Islamist entity and its advances.

Following the ouster of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libya has consistently struggled to rein in Islamist threats from domestic terror groups, as well as international ones.

On Tuesday, a suicide bomber attacked a special forces camp in Benghazi, killing two and wounding two others.

In December, a suicide bomber killed 13 in an army camp outside of Benghazi.

Because of the consistent prevailing threat of terrorism and Libya’s inability to successfully manage these threats, many countries have closed their embassies and consulates in Libya indefinitely.

Ansar al-Sharia, an al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamist militant group, has been identified as Libya’s foremost promulgator of terrorism within the country. The group, which seeks the implementation of sharia law throughout the state, claimed responsibility for the September 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi. Since then, Ansar al-Sharia has been documented as being responsible for carrying out attacks on high-ranking Libyan officials.

The Obama administration still has not found the perpetrators responsible for the September 11, 2012, attack in Benghazi that killed four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens.

A recently released email from top White House personnel following the 2012 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi defined the Obama administration’s talking points. Instead of rightly placing blame on al-Qaeda affiliates in North Africa, the administration decided to place responsibility on a preceding violent protest–which has now been proven to have never occurred–and a random YouTube video titled “Innocence of Muslims.”