BREAKING NEWS: Libyan PM kidnapped

Libyan prime minister kidnapped, reports say

Ali Zeidan said to have been taken from hotel in Tripoli by gunmen and driven away to an undisclosed location

the Guardian,

10 October 2013

Armed men have kidnapped the Libyan prime minister, Ali Zeidan, from the hotel in Tripoli where he lives, according to reports.

Abu Dhabi-based Sky News Arabia quoted Libyan security sources as saying that Zeidan was seized from a hotel where he was staying in the Libyan capital and taken to an unknown destination. Dubai-based al-Arabiya carried a similar report.

According to CNN, armed rebels escorted Zeidan from the Corinthian Hotel in Tripol and took him away in a car. The news service quoted a hotel clerk as saying there was no gunfire and the gunmen "caused no trouble".

Zeidan's office initially denied the abduction on Facebook but later stated the denial was made at the order of the kidnappers.

"The head of the transitional government, Ali Zeidan, was taken to an unknown destination for unknown reasons," the government said on its website, attributing the kidnapping to a group of men believed to be former rebels.

The abduction early Thursday comes amid anger among Libya's powerful Islamic militant groups over the US special forces raid on Saturday that seized a Libyan al-Qaida suspect known as Abu Anas al-Libi. Several groups accused the government of colluding in or allowing the raid, though the government denied having any prior knowledge of the operation.

Hours before the abduction Zeidan had met with al-Libi's family, the Associated Press said.

Libyan PM taken by armed men from Tripoli hotel

Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan has been taken by armed men from a hotel in Tripoli, with one report emerging claiming that it was on orders from the general prosecutor’s office.

RT,

10 October 2013

Security sources told local media on Thursday that the armed units grabbed Zeidan from the Corinthia Hotel in the Libyan capital and took him to an unknown location, Reuters says. The reports were later confirmed by a government statement.

The hotel’s security guards also confirmed the reports, with one guard describing the situation as an "arrest."

International news sources have also picked up the story, with Al Jazeera saying the apparent arrest was on orders from the general prosecutor’s office, the BBC describing armed gunmen and the AFP claiming that Zeidan was taken for "unknown reasons" by a group believed to be former rebels.

Government officials could not be reached for comment at the time.

Al Arabiya television channel was citing the country’s justice minister as saying that Zeidan was “kidnapped,” also showing some video stills that clearly displayed Zeidan with a troubled facial expression and with his shirt unbuttoned at the collar. He was being led out by armed men wearing civilian clothes.

However, al-Arabiya later claimed the general prosecutor’s office had no knowledge of the supposed arrest warrant.

Last weekend, a person thought to be a top Al-Qaeda leader was seized by US forces in a raid in Tripoli. The incident has angered Islamist groups in the country, including the one that is thought to have been involved in the 2012 attack on the US consulate in Benghazi.

The incident comes two years after Libya's autocratic ruler Muammar Gaddafi was deposed, which resulted in widespread chaos involving many players and factions all vying for power in different parts of the country, with the government still trying to bring the situation under control