US Ambassador Attack In Libya: Man Held

A Tunisian man reportedly linked to the US consulate attack in Libya, in which the American ambassador was killed, has been detained.

The suspect, 28-year-old Ali Harzi, was in custody in the capital Tunis, said interior ministry spokesman Tarrouch Khaled, adding: "His case is in the hands of justice."

Mr Khaled did not elaborate, while the US State Department in Washington had no comment.

Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans died in the attack on the US diplomatic post in Benghazi on September 11.

US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta recently said the US has been looking into the arrests of two Tunisian men detained in Turkey reportedly over attacks on a consulate in Libya last month.

Meanwhile, a series of State Department emails has raised questions about what the White House knew about the attack in the aftermath.

The US Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, said five days after the attack that it was a "spontaneous" reaction to protests over an anti-Islam film.

But two hours after the assault began, the White House was told a militant group claimed responsibility for the consulate violence, according to one email.

It was sent to intelligence officials and the White House situation room and said the Islamist group Ansar al Sharia claimed responsibility on Facebook and Twitter, and also called for an attack on the US embassy in the Libyan capital Tripoli.

The document, according to the Associated Press, may fuel Republican attempts ahead of next month's presidential election to show that the White House knew it was a terrorist attack.

Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney and politicians in his party have accused the Obama administration of misleading Americans about the nature of the atrocity.

The email was one of three sent by State Department officials in Washington. The first email said its regional security officer reported the mission in Benghazi was under attack, and that "20 armed people fired shots".

It said Mr Stevens was there, and that he and four others were in the compound's safe haven.

Forty-nine minutes later, an email said the firing at the site "has stopped and the compound has been cleared," while a response team was attempting to locate people.

The next message, one hour and 13 minutes after the second and two hours after the attack began, a message reported Ansar al Sharia claimed responsibility for the attack.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the review board she appointed to investigate the attack is "looking at everything," rather than "cherry picking one story here or one document there."

White House press secretary Jay Carney said the emails represented just one piece of information the administration was receiving at the time.