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Report: Video Recording of Libya Attack Shows Coordinated Assault

Gutted U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya / AP
October 12, 2012

Video recording from the deadly attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya reveals that militants were highly coordinated and engaged in a "military style" operation, according to the Daily Beast.

Two intelligence officers who viewed the video told the Daily Beast’s Eli Lake that the video "shows an organized group of armed men attacking the compound."

The militants killed four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens.

Lake reports:

The Obama administration has been studying the videos, taken from closed-circuit cameras throughout the Benghazi consulate’s four-building compound, for clues about who was responsible for the attack and how it played out. The two officials tell The Daily Beast that analysts are hoping to decipher the faces of the attackers and match them up with known jihadists.

The videos could also play into an expanding investigation by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform that is looking at whether security steps could have been taken that would have saved the life of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans killed that day. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, who is one of the Republicans leading the House investigation, says he hasn’t been given the footage.

In addition to the footage from the consulate cameras, the U.S. government is also poring over video taken from an overhead U.S. surveillance drone that arrived for the final hour of the night battle at the consulate compound and nearby annex.

Published under: Libya