Libyan prime minister kidnapped – and freed
Armed men seized Libyan prime minister Ali Zeidan from a hotel in Tripoli and released him after a few hours. This was the first time a prime minister anywhere has been abducted by an armed group linked to Al Qaeda. The kidnappers said at first he was being held to ransom for the release of the long-sought high-profile al Qaeda operative Anas Al-Libi, whom a US commando unit captured Sunday in Tripoli on suspicion of complicity in the bombings of US embassies in East Africa in 1998.