TRIPOLI – Libya's parliament chief announced in an interview with CBS News Sunday the arrests of some 50 people over the killing of US Ambassador Chris Stevens in an attack he said was planned by foreigners. US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said, meanwhile, the American military has no major plans to bolster its forces in the Middle East despite a week of violent protests targeting diplomatic outposts, including at the US consulate in Libya's eastern city of Benghazi in which Stevens died.
“The number reached about 50,” Mohammed Magarief, President of the Libyan National Congress, told CBS. Stevens and three other Americans were killed Tuesday when suspected militants fired on the US consulate in Benghazi with rocket-propelled grenades and set it ablaze. Magarief said “a few” of those who joined in the attack were foreigners, who had entered Libya “from different directions, some of them definitely from Mali and Algeria.” “The others are affiliates and maybe sympathizers,” he added. He said the government has learned the attack was not the result of a spontaneous outburst of anger over a US-made anti-Islam movie which has triggered sometimes deadly protests in the Arab and Muslim world. “It was planned, definitely, it was planned by foreigners, by people who entered the country a few months ago. And they were planning this criminal act since their arrival,” he told CBS. Panetta told reporters before arriving in Tokyo on an Asian tour that with a substantial force already deployed in the region and now boosted by the extra Marine units, the military has the ability to respond as necessary to protect American diplomats. “We do have a major presence in the region,” he said. “Having said that we've enhanced that with FAST (Fleet Anti-Terrorism Security Team) teams and others so that if they are requested, they can respond more quickly.” – Reuters
