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By Ashraf Abdul Wahab.
Tripoli, 24 September:
Interior Minister Fawzi Abdelal met yesterday with the head of the US investigation team sent to . . .[restrict]Libya following the death of Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans on 11 September.
The two men discussed the evidence that had thus far been collected and how best to cooperate with the investigation moving forwards. At least eight men are known to have been arrested so far, and as many as 50 others are said to be under investigation.
An FBI team was deployed to Libya last week to assist the Libyan authorities with their investigation into the first death of a serving US Ambassador since the shooting of Adolph Dubs in Afghanistan in 1979.
Almost two weeks after the incident, significant questions remain unanswered; not least how it was that militants appeared to know the travel plans of the US diplomatic team on that day, as well as the location of a nearby safe house.
There has also been considerable controversy over whether the attacks were a spontaneous reaction to the publication of an anti-Islamic film or, as seems more likely, a pre-meditated assault.
The question of whether or not the attackers received any external assistance, in particular from the international terrorist network Al-Qaeda or its subsidiaries, also remains unanswered.
To date, no one group has been formally accused of orchestrating the attacks by the authorities, although the finger has frequently been pointed at Ansar Al-Sharia, the Islamist Benghazi brigade targeted by anti-militia protesters and disbanded over the weekend.
The group has denied having any involvement in the attacks. [/restrict]
