Kerry says Libya raid not a 'kidnapping'
Many Libyans say US special forces raid that captured alleged Al Qaeda operative violated their sovereignty.
Many Libyans say US special forces raid that captured alleged Al Qaeda operative violated their sovereignty.
US Secretary of State John Kerry defended Saturday's special forces raid in Libya, calling the abduction of senior Al Qaeda member聽Nazih聽al-Ruqai "legal and appropriate," despite Libyan protestations that Mr. Ruqai was "kidnapped" in violation of domestic law.
Mr. Kerry, speaking at an economic summit in Indonesia, told reporters that the Libya raid to capture Ruqai, also known as Abu Anas al-Liby, was conducted legally, as was a simultaneous but unsuccessful effort to capture another terrorist leader in Somalia, reports BBC News. Kerry added that Ruqai would be tried in a court of law.
The New York Times reports that Ruqai is being held in military custody on board a US Navy ship in the Mediterranean, where he will be interrogated before eventually being flown to New York to face federal charges related to various Al Qaeda plots, including the 1998 US embassy bombings in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, which killed 224 people.
The Times writes that Ruqai "has been described as a Qaeda computer expert and helped to conduct surveillance of the embassy in Nairobi, according to evidence in trials stemming from the bombings."
But the Associated Press reports that it was "unclear" whether Ruqai's role in Al Qaeda was significant 鈥� it describes him as a "scout" in the 1998 attacks 鈥� and whether he was involved in any militant activities in Libya. His family and peers say that he was never a member of the terrorist group and had not been involved in any militant activities since 2011, when he returned to Libya after several years in Afghanistan and Iran.
AP adds that in a statement issued Sunday, the Libyan government complained about the raid.
海角大神 reports that Libyans are divided over the raid 鈥� some agree with the US operation, while others criticize it as a violation of Libyan sovereignty. But even the critics agree that the raid highlights the relative impotence of the government in Tripoli when it comes to dealing with Islamists in the country, where militias operate with impunity.