'Benghazi attack suspect' dies in Cairo shootout

BBC News online - 24 October 2012

Security officials quoted in Egyptian media said they had tracked the man to the address in Madinet Nasr

A man suspected of involvement in an attack on the US consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi last month has been killed in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, officials say.

The man was killed after an exchange of fire with security services in the Cairo suburb of Madinet Nasr.

Authorities named the man only as Hazem.

Four US diplomatic officials were killed in the Benghazi attack, among them the US ambassador to Libya.

According to the Egyptian officials the suspect was cornered in a flat in Madinet Nasr early on Wednesday morning. He threw a bomb at the security forces, but it bounced back into the flat.

An exchange of fire with the security services then began and went on for several hours, local media reports say.

The suspect's burnt body was found in the property, along with weapons and explosive materials, officials say.

The area was sealed off by police while emergency services dealt with a blaze caused by the exchange of fire.

Emergency services also had to rescue other residents of the building using hydraulic ladders, officials told the al-Ahram newspaper.

One possibility is that the suspect was trying to make his way to the Sinai peninsula, which has become a magnet for militants from across the region, the BBC's Jon Leyne in Cairo reports.