A file photo originally released    01 May 2013 by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the damaged US Special Mission after it was attacked in Benghazi, Libya, 11 September 2012.  EPA/FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
A file photo originally released 01 May 2013 by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the damaged US Special Mission after it was attacked in Benghazi, Libya, 11 September 2012. EPA/FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION

 

Washington – The Pentagon says an Islamic State operative suspected of involvement in the 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya, has been killed in a U.S. airstrike in Iraq.

Defense Department spokesman Col. Steve Warren says Ali Awni al-Harzi “operated closely” with Islamic State-associated extremists in North Africa and the Middle East. Warren says al-Harzi’s death will diminish the radical group’s ability to recruit North African jihadists into its fight in Syria and Iraq.

The Pentagon says al-Harzi was killed last week in Mosul, which fell to Islamic State forces a year ago.

The Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. outpost in Benghazi killed four Americans, including U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens.‎

As reported by Vos Iz Neias