Country Reports on Terrorism 2012

On August 20, a car belonging to an Egyptian diplomat was blown up near his home in
Benghazi.
On September 11, terrorists attacked the U.S. facilities in Benghazi, which resulted in the
death of Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three staff members.
On October 13, the Benghazi police chief survived an assassination attempt.
On November 21, Benghazi security chief Faraj al-Drissi was assassinated.
On December 16 and 20, eight people were killed when violent extremists attacked
Benghazi police stations.
On December 31, attackers threw an IED at a Coptic church in the city of Dafniya. The
explosion resulted in the death of two Egyptian men and wounded two others.
On December 31, an IED exploded outside the headquarters of the public prosecutor in
Benghazi. No one was killed or injured, but the explosion caused damage to the building.
Legislation, Law Enforcement, and Border Security: Following the September 11 attacks on
U.S. facilities in Benghazi, senior Libyan authorities assured their U.S. counterparts that security
was their top priority. In light of this and many other security incidents throughout the year,
Prime Minister Ali Zeidan and his cabinet (seated on November 14) focused on bolstering the
security sector in Libya and extending the reach of governmental security institutions beyond
Tripoli. Significant challenges remained, however, and although the new Libyan authorities
intended to make immediate improvements to the security situation, particularly in the east, they
were unable to do so as security and justice sector institutions had been severely weakened
following 42 years of mismanagement under Qadhafi, and eight months of violent conflict.
While the Transitional National Council did not feel it had the mandate to make lasting
legislation, the General National Congress and Prime Minister Zeidan have been more
aggressively confronting the security situation in Libya. Yet any legislation seeking to limit the
power of heavily-armed, extra-governmental militias has been difficult to enforce, and Libyan
judges did not hear criminal cases for fear it could lead to revenge attacks against them. Police
and military personnel and facilities were the frequent targets of attacks by pro-Qadhafi and
violent Islamist extremist groups, who fiercely resisted any efforts by the government to exert its
authority. Many members of the militias that continue to undermine the authority of the army
and police refused to join these institutions because they claimed Qadhafi-era officials continued
to occupy their ranks.
The proliferation of weapons from Libya across the country’s borders was of concern. The EU
developed plans to provide significant border security assistance to the Libyan authorities, and
throughout 2012, the United States worked with the Government of Libya to develop a
complementary border security assistance package of its own. A delegation of Libyan officials
from the Ministry of Defense and Customs Authority visited the United States in mid-September,
during which they expressed interest in U.S. border security best practices, and American border
security technology. Nevertheless, implementation of these programs has been slow, and the
Libyan authorities lacked the basic training and equipment necessary to monitor their vast land
and maritime borders, and to control the flow of people and goods through their airports. Violent
extremists continued to exploit these weaknesses, which threatened to destabilize the Middle
East and North Africa region.
The United States will cooperate with the EU and other international donors to provide further,
complementary assistance in this vein, and the Libyan authorities have indicated that they will
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