Libyan President Mohamed Magariaf said the attacks earlier this week on a U.S. consulate in Benghazi were planned largely by foreigners in Libya in an interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation” Sunday. “It was planned, definitely, it was planned by foreigners, by people who entered the country a few months ago, and they were planning this criminal act since their arrival,” Magariaf said.
Magariaf said that a about 50 people, many of them foreigners, have been arrested in connection with the attacks that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.
U.S. Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice said that there is not yet evidence that the attacks were premeditated in an appearance on “Face the Nation” after Magariaf.
“We do not have information at present that leads us to conclude that this was premeditated or preplanned,” Rice said, adding that the best evidence they have is that the protests were “spontaneous.”
“It looks like extremists elements joined in that effort with heavy weapons… and it spun from there into something much, much more violent,” Rice said.
