Akari says that the Libyan authorities have found no evidence of direct participation in the consulate attack. “So far we really believe that this was a violent demonstration mainly against the movie that swung out of control. The protesters saw on television what was happening in Egypt and decided to have their own protest. We have no evidence at all that this was al Qaeda.”

The prime minister’s spokesman says members of the militia Ansar al-Sharia are still seen as chief suspects but did not discount the possible involvement of the Imprisoned Omar Abdul Rahman Brigades, a shadowy pro-Al Qaeda group, although not an affiliate of the terror group, which in May claimed responsibility for an attack on the International Red Cross office in Benghazi and in June detonated a small explosive outside the U.S. Consulate and released a video of that attack.

Libyan authorities have arrested another eight members of the Salafist militia blamed by some witnesses for the deadly assault on the U.S. consulate. But Libyan officials have admitted to The Daily Beast that fighters from the Ansar al-Sharia militia were—like all militiamen across the country, whether they heed the central authorities or not—on the Libyan-government payroll at the time of the attack on the American mission.