A little seen video shows a group associated with Al Qaeda attacking the Red Cross outpost in Benghazi with a rocket propelled grenade. The Red Cross attack took place in May and the group responsible delivered an IED to the front gate of the US Consulate in Benghazi two weeks later.
The dark video is headlined in Arabic but an approximate translation to English yields “Al Qaeda portrays the process of bombing the Red Cross Benghazi.” It shows someone driving through the streets at night as an Arabic song plays. The video then cuts to a shot of someone preparing a rocket propelled grenade. When the scene cuts again the camera reveals the exterior of a building at night. After a pause, a rocket is fired and explodes on the side of the building.
The attack on the Red Cross took place on May 22nd and resulted in no injuries. It was later determined that a group calling itself the Imprisoned Omar Abdul Rahman Brigades was responsible.
Two weeks after the attack on the Red Cross, the same group assembled an IED and dropped it at the front gate of the US Consulate in Benghazi. The consulate attack was made in retaliation for a US drone strike in Pakistan that killed Al Qaeda’s 2nd in command, Abu Yahya al-Libi. During the June 5th consulate bombing the group left leaflets at the scene identifying themselves and taking responsibility. However, as with the Red Cross attack, no one was injured in the consulate bombing.
A report Monday by the New York Times suggests that the ineffective attack in June may have led to a false sense of security at the Benghazi consulate. The group which attacked the site on September 11th resulting in the death of four Americans was not the same group that attacked the site in June.