Libyan leader says 50 arrested in U.S. consulate attack WASHINGTON/TRIPOLI (Reuters) - The head of Libya's national congress said on Sunday about 50 people had been arrested in connection with a deadly attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi last week, although the interior minister put the figure far lower. Tuesday's attack in Benghazi coincided with protests over a video made in the United States that denigrates the Prophet Mohammad. Libyan assembly head Mohammed Magarief was asked by the "Face the Nation" program on the U.S. television network CBS how many people had been arrested in connection with the assault, and replied: "About 50." But Libyan Interior Minister Fawzi Abdel A'al, when asked about that figure, told Reuters in Tripoli that only four arrests had been made and around 50 people were "wanted for investigation." "What I have is that four have been arrested," he said. Magarief said some of those arrested were not Libyans and were linked to al Qaeda, the militant Muslim group that carried out the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. Magarief, who became president of the national assembly last month after the bloody U.S.-backed overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi, described others as affiliates or sympathizers. "It was definitely planned by foreigners, by people who entered the country a few months ago and they were planning criminal acts since their arrival," he said, adding that some were from Mali and Algeria. "These ugly deeds, criminal deeds, directed against late ambassador Chris Stevens and his colleagues, do not resemble in any way, in any sense, the aspirations, feelings of the Libyans toward the United States and its citizens," he said. Abdel A'al said there were indications that the initial protesters had been armed. After the consulate was attacked, embassy staff were taken to a "safe house," where a second attack took place. Asked how attackers managed to launch the second assault, Abdel A'al said: "I think there may have been an infiltration within the group protecting the consulate. This will come out in the investigation but there are indications that this is a possibility. Writing by Bill Trott in Washington and Marie-Louise Gumuchian and Ali Shuaib in Tripoli; Editing by Kevin Liffey