four americans. u.s. officials tell cnn that ahmed abu khatallah went into hiding after a flurry of interviews last year, including one with our own arwa damon. khatallah was lured to a location south of benghazi. army delta force command don t go away, the fbi and others were watching and waiting for days before they captured him this past weekend. he was then taken to a u.s. navy ship. he is now being questioned about his role in the 2012 attack in benghazi. our chief national security correspondent jim sciutto joins me from washington with more. what do we know, jim? we know this is something that has been in planning for some time. they knew where he was in general. but military officials tell me it s one thing to know his general location. it s another thing for journalists to meet with him, but to go in a raid, that s a gunfight. he was very well protected, and they had to wait for their opportunity here to do that. the line today from admiral kirby, the pentagon spokesman was
tripoli. what are you learning about how he was captured and what happens next to him. reporter: christine, we re getting very little information. the details of how this capture actually went down. libyan government here, officials here in tripoli have not said a thing. no official comment yet from the libyans. but what we do know from the u.s. officials is for days before this operation took place, the u.s. special forces, that s the army s delta force, the fbi and intelligence agencies were closely watching ahmed abu khattala. they say also information from locals was helpful in the surveillance. now, as you mentioned earlier, he was lured to a location south of benghazi where he was grabbed. u.s. officials say not a single shot was fired. now, that s something i discussed yesterday with a former senior libyan intelligence official in benghazi who said he found it very strange that there was no
investigators and interrogators have a lot more time face-to-face with their guest, mr. khattalah. that s so much to talk about, what this really means, interrogating a terror suspect on board a ship. a terror suspect or a criminal suspect. there s a difference. because it s big. it s fast. and it can make all the difference. the libyans want him back. they want him to stand trial there on libyan soil. what are the odds that s going to happen. and where this person really is on the terror spectrum too. all of that coming up. first, here is the lowdown. the operation, the arrest of the suspected benghazi attack mastermind, from our pentagon correspondent barbara starr. reporter: ahmed abu khattalah was lured to a location south of benghazi, u.s. officials from multiple agencies tell cnn. army delta force commandos, fbi and intelligence agencies were watching and waiting for days. khattalah, a key operative in
time to question him about the attack that led to the death of u.s. ambassador to libya, chris stevens, and three others. pentagon correspondent, barbara starr, has more. reporter: ahmed abu khattala was lured to a location south of benghazi, u.s. officials from multiple agencies tell cnn. a sur ever pricing feat.
chris? this morning the man believed responsible for the deadly attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi is in american hands. his name ahmed abu khatallah, already being grilled aboard a navy ship. expected to be brought stateside soon. suspect was under surveillance for days before commandos made their move. barbara starr is at the pentagon this morning with more reporting for us. barbara, this was military and fbi, right? took two teams. indeed, chris, the u.s. military commandos, army delta force commandos with the cooperation and the assistance of fbi law enforcement agents worked this case, and apparently on sunday, sunday evening in libya, they were able to execute the capture of abu khatallah. he was apparently, by all accounts, lured to a location south of benghazi. they had been watching for days his movement, and they moved in very quickly to capture him. we re told not a shot fired, nobody hurt.