Zee Media Bureau
Tripoli: Two days after the capture of suspected al Qaeda leader, Anas al-Libi, Libya has summoned US envoy over the raid which it had termed as ‘kidnap’.
The country’s Minister of Justice wanted “explanations” from the US envoy over the incident, as per a BBC news report.
Abu Anas al-Libi, who was indicted in connection with the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and has a USD 5 million FBI bounty on his head, was captured on Saturday.
Secretary of State John Kerry had insisted the capture of an alleged al Qaeda operative in Libya in a daring US raid was legal, after Tripoli demanded answers about the "kidnap".
The operation to capture Libi drew fury from the Libyan government, which said it was unauthorised and described it as a "kidnap".
But Kerry defended the operation and said, "With respect to Abu Anas al-Libi, he is a key al Qaeda figure, and he is a legal and an appropriate target for the US military," Kerry told reporters on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Indonesia.
He added that Libi had committed "acts of terror" and had been "appropriately indicted by courts of law, by the legal process".
Libi was taken to a US Navy warship in the region after the raid and was being questioned there, a US official said.
He had been indicted in the US federal court in New York for allegedly playing a key role in the east Africa bombings -- which left more than 200 dead -- and plots to attack US forces.
The Tripoli operation ended a 13-year manhunt for Libi, whose given name is Nazih Abdul Hamed al-Raghie. FBI and CIA agents assisted US troops in the raid, US media reported.
His arrest paves the way for his extradition to New York to face trial.
(With AFP Inputs)
