The Libya story gets more interesting.

US consulate attack in Benghazi 'disrupted major intelligence operation’

The attack on the American consulate in Benghazi in which the ambassador to Libya was killed seriously disrupted a major intelligence operation based there, according to briefings by Washington officials.

A large number of Americans whose existence was unknown to Libyan leaders were evacuated from Benghazi even as fighting around the compound continued.

The new briefings admit they were involved in CIA or other intelligence operations targeting Islamist activity in the east of the country, as well as securing some of the more dangerous weapons with which the country is infested.

The revelations are being used by Islamist leaders, currently on the defensive after the attack and a subsequent backlash by secular forces which saw some of their bases stormed over the weekend, as justification for their anti-American rhetoric.

Ismail Sallabi, one of the most powerful Islamists in the country, told The Daily Telegraph on Monday he also objected to the American drones that have been circling Benghazi since the attack on the consulate.

“If the CIA were really there I regard that as an invasion of Libyan sovereignty, like the aeropla

“Of course it would be different if it had the agreement of the Libyan government and was declared – but we don’t want these agreements to be under the table.”

As the attack on the consulate was under way, around 30 Americans were driven at high speed to an accommodation block – sometimes referred to as a “safe house” though it was no better protected than the consulate itself – but came under renewed attack there.

They were then taken to the airport and flown directly to Tripoli and out of the country. According to the New York Times, they included at least 12 CIA agents who are now “scattered across Europe and the United States” – something which is hindering the FBI investigation into the killing of the ambassador, Chris Stevens, and three other staff.

The paper said the CIA team had been playing a “crucial role in conducting surveillance and collecting information on an array of armed militant groups”. It quoted an official as saying its enforced withdrawal was a “catastrophic intelligence loss”.

Similar reports in the Wall Street Journal said that the Libyan government had only been informed of the extent of the intelligence operation after the attack.

The size of the US presence has led to speculation that Islamists targeted by the operation, including Ansar al-Sharia, a militant group, and al-Qaeda, had staged a pre-emptive attack. Washington has backed away from its original insistence that the assault was a protest that got out of hand and now describes it as a terrorist incident.

Mr Sallabi, who used to lead one of Libya’s biggest revolutionary militias, the February 17 brigade, said he had offered protection to the US ambassador, and had warned him that the city was becoming dangerous.

He is now a senior commander with the Rafallah al-Sehati militia, whose base was stormed after those of Ansar al-Sharia in a wave of anti-Islamist protests in Benghazi in Friday night.

He is now in delicate negotiations with the authorities and the army.

His men have arrested 113 people he said were involved in the attack, including soldiers, but at the same time stressed his loyalty to the newly elected parliament in Tripoli.

He said he accepted a decision announced on Monday to put army officers in charge of “approved” Islamist militias like his own to tie them more closely to the official military.

“We take our orders from the chief of staff,” he said. “My brigade is one of the closest of all the militias to the parliament.”

But he said he regretted the attacks on Ansar al-Sharia, described as an “illegitimate militia” and its subsequent disbandment. He said his men had been on the verge of a major operation to arrest those it believed responsible for the attack on the consulate, but following the attack on his base that would not now happen.

“The danger is now that the members of Ansar al-Sharia will go into the shadows,” he warned.