Guantanamo inmate 'led consulate attack'

The attack on the American consulate in Benghazi may have been led by a former inmate of Guantanamo Bay who was sent back to Libya by George W Bush, who was then president.

US intelligence officials believe that Sufyan Ben Qumu, one of the leaders of the al-Qaeda-linked Islamist group, Ansar al-Sharia, is likely to have been behind the assault.

Ben Qumu, who now lives openly in the Libyan town of Derna, 150 miles to the east of Benghazi, was released from Guantanamo Bay in 2007.

He was imprisoned in Tripoli upon his return to Libya, but later freed by Col Muammar Gaddafi's government. The 53 year-old has so far refused to comment on repeated allegations that Ansar al-Sharia members were present during last week's raid, which killed Chris Stevens, the US ambassador to Libya.

Most Libyan authorities, however, including the militias charged with security in Benghazi, believe it was organised by the group and featured its members.

"Now it is very clear who was responsible for this," Mohammed al-Gharabi, the leader of the biggest pro-government militias, said yesterday.

"It was people from Ansar al-Sharia, not all of them but some of them, and I think [the organisation] knows who did it." Yesterday, Fox News claimed to have been told that Ben Qumu was likely to have been "involved in the attack, and even may have led the attack on the consulate".

He formed Ansar al-Sharia, or "Supporters of Sharia", in the wake of last year's Libyan revolution.

American intelligence officials believe that there were "communications" between the group and al-Qaeda, most likely its franchise in north Africa, on the day of the incident.

That information has redoubled questions as to why Stevens was not better protected.

The consulate had come under attack before and al-Gharabi said he had warned American diplomats three days before the assault that Benghazi was "not secure".

Ben Qumu has a history of al-Qaeda links. According to his Guantanamo records, he was tied to the financiers of the September 11 attacks, while diplomatic files disclosed by The Daily Telegraph last year said he had once been a lorry driver for a company owned by Osama bin Laden.

Last night, Jay Carney, the White House spokesperson, said it was "self-evident" that the assault on the Benghazi consulate, which came on the 11th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, was a "terrorist attack".

It was initially thought to have resulted from a spontaneous protest against an anti-Muslim film which simply spiralled out of control.

Officials now believe it was deliberate and carefully aimed. Stevens was the first US ambassador to be killed in the line of duty since 1979.

"It is self-evident that what happened in Benghazi was a terrorist attack," Carney said. "Our embassy was attacked violently and the result was four deaths of American officials."

His comments followed those of Matthew Olsen, the director of the US National Counterterrorism Centre, who confirmed in a briefing to a Senate committee that the attack was being treated as a terrorist incident.

The aftermath of the raid is still causing political ructions in Libya, in the US and between the two countries. William Burns, the US deputy secretary of state flew into Tripoli yesterday for talks with Libya's new leaders.

An FBI team which flew to Libya to help the investigation into the killing has still not been allowed to visit Benghazi.

The Libyan police investigation into the killing of Stevens and three other consulate staff continues, with repeated rumours that Ansar al-Sharia is being persuaded to hand over its ringleaders.

There are also fears that America may take its own punitive action. "It would be a big political mistake if the Americans did anything like this," al-Gharabi said.