Tripoli, Oct 8 (IANS) The biggest bloc in the Libyan parliament — National Forces Alliance (NFA) — Monday strongly condemned the raid carried out by the US forces in Tripoli for capturing Abu Anas al-Liby, allegedly involved in the 1998 US embassies’ bombings.
“NFA confirms the condemnation of all forms of terrorism and extremism as it condemns equally the violation of the Libyan state’s sovereignty by another state,” reported Xinhua citing the political coalition led by Mohamed Jibril, who run the first Libyan transitional government after former regime’s fal in 2011, in a statement.
Such a violation is a violation of the UN Charter as Libya is still a member of the UN, it added.
US special forces carried out two separate operations in Africa targeting Al Qaeda and Al Shabaab militants over the weekend, and caught long time Al Qaeda member Abu Anas al Libi in Libya.
The Pentagon confirmed Sunday that US military conducted a “successful” operation Saturday in Libya to capture Abu Anas al Libi, who was behind the bombings of the US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya in 1998.
The operation was approved by US President Barack Obama and conducted by the US military with coordination across US national security and intelligence agencies, said Pentagon spokesperson George Little, adding that no US personnel or civilians on the ground were injured during the operation.
Libi has been indicted by a US court for his alleged role in Al Qaeda’s conspiracy to kill US nationals and to conduct attacks against US interests worldwide.
He was believed to be involved in the plots to attack US forces stationed in Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Somalia, and the bombings of US embassies in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya, that killed more than 200 people in 1998.
The US special forces captured Nazih Abdul-Hamed al-Ruqai, known by his alias al-Liby, in a raid on his house in Tripoli as returned from his prayer, according to Liby’s son.
Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan has sought clarifications from US officials on the military operation, viewed as a kidnapping of the Libyan citizen on Libyan soil.