الأربعاء، 9 أكتوبر 2013

US claim Libya approved navy SEAL raid

Libya’s government had approved two US military raids inside the country, one to capture a suspected al-Qaeda leader and the other to arrest a militia leader believed to be involved with the 9/11 Benghazi attack, according to a New York Times report. 
The second raid did not take place alongside the US navy SEAL’s successful mission on Saturday, however, they did fail to capture a senior member of al-Shabaab, the group responsible for the Nairobi shopping mall attack.
When the raid happened, the Libyan government said it was unauthorised and described it as a “kidnap”. However, Zeidan assured that the raid would not affect US-Libya relations.
“Our relationship with the USA is one of friendship and cooperation. They helped us with our revolution. Our relationship will not be affected by this event, which we will settle how we need to,” he said during a visit to Morocco.
Conflicting reports have emerged as Libya summoned US Ambassador Deborah Jones demanding to know what happened during Saturday’s arrest of  al-Qaeda suspect Nazih Abdul-Hamed al-Ruqai, also known as Abu Anas al-Liby.
According to the New York Times report, the US expected the Libyan government to deny any knowledge of Saturday’s raid. However, now the concern lies with Benghazi attack suspect Ahmed Abu Khattala, who will be aware of the US ability to conduct his arrest inside Libya after he has lived in the eastern city despite mounting pressure from the west.
American officials said that although the Libyans had tacitly approved the Saturday raid, they had not played a role in the actual operation and had not been told in advance when it would happen, the New York Times report said.
On Monday, the French daily newspaper Le Monde said during Zeidan’s recent trip to the USA, he handed over a list of 213 wanted Libyan citizens by his government, requesting the CIA to arrest or kill the terrorist suspects on Libyan territory.
Abu Anas al-Liby, a suspect in the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 civilians, was arrested on Sunday by US navy seals, and is currently being held on a naval ship in the Mediterranean Sea.
libya tv

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