Al Qaeda’s first comment on the commando-style attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi in Libya has not come from its command and control in North Waziristan in Pakistan headed by its Amir Ayman al-Zawahiri, but from its Yemen branch called Ai Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), also referred to as Ansar al-Sharia (Supporters of Sharia)
Of course, Zawahiri had issued a video message on September 10, 2012, one day before the Benghazi attack confirming the death of his No.2 Abu Yahya al-Libi, a Libyan cleric, in a US Drone strike in the Waziristan area on June 4, 2012.The message called President Barack Obama a liar, who was trying to mislead the Muslims..
The presumption among many analysts was that the Benghazi attack was to avenge the death of al-Libi and that it had been planned before the Islamic world came to know of the film Innocence of Islam which has sparked off violent anti-US protests in many countries.
One expected that the first comment of Al Qaeda on the Benghazi attack would come from Zawahiri or from Al Qaeda headquarters in North Waziristan. It has not. It has come from Yemen, indicating a possible co-ordination of the anti-US protests by AQAP.
The AQAP’s comment is not in the form of claim of responsibility for the Benghazi attack. It is in the form of a justification for the attack.
According to SITE, an intelligence group in the US which, inter alia, monitors the web statements of Al Qaeda, the AQAP said: