Two Groups Likely Attacked Benghazi

Newly revealed testimony from top military officials suggests that two separate groups launched the 2012 Benghazi attacks. The perpetrators who launched the second attack, on a CIA complex, are thought to be different from the ones who struck the U.S. diplomatic mission. Gen. Carter Ham told Congress in closed-door testimony that the militants in the latter attack appeared to have military training, unlike the mob-like onslaught in the first. For this reason, he suspected that they probably acted after learning of the chaos from the attack at the U.S. diplomatic mission. Ham said in testimony on April 9 that was released late Wednesday: “I think it’s reasonable that a team came from outside of Benghazi.” The second group might have seen the first attack “and said, ‘Let’s get somebody there.’” Four Americans were killed in the attacks on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens.