TRIPOLI: Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan has been released, hours after he was kidnapped by a rebel-controlled Interior Ministry, state-run news agency said.
Earlier in the day, armed units grabbed Zeidan from the Corinthia Hotel in the Libyan capital and took him to an unknown location. His kidnapping from the hotel had been confirmed by the government and other sources.
Later it turned out the PM Zeidan was seized by the same former rebel group that is now working with the Interior Ministry to maintain security in the capital in retaliation for his government’s role in assisting the US in the recent capture of a suspected top Al-Qaeda leader.
“His arrest comes after the statement by John Kerry about the capture of Abu Anas al-Libi, after he said the Libyan government was aware of the operation,” a spokesman for the group, known as the Operations Room of Libya’s Revolutionaries, said referring to the US Secretary of State.
