WASHINGTON (REUTERS) - US forces have captured a militant who is believed to have played a role in a 2012 attack on a US diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, that killed US Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans, a US official said on Monday (Oct 30).

The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that US Special Operation Forces took the militant into their custody in Libya during the past few days, but declined to identify him.

The attack on the embassy was the topic of numerous congressional hearings, with Republican lawmakers critical of the way in which then-secretary of state Hillary Clinton responded to the attack.

Earlier this month, US prosecutors opened their case against the suspected ringleader, Ahmed Abu Khatallah.

Khatallah had been awaiting trial since 2014, when he was captured by a team of U.S. military and FBI officials in Libya and transported on a 13-day journey to the United States aboard a Navy vessel.