A source in the premier's office said Zeidan had been kidnapped from Tripoli's Corinthia Hotel, where he resides.
"A large number of armed men entered the place very early on Thursday.
But we did not know what was happening," a hotel employee told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
[Source: AFP]
A group of former rebels in Libya said Thursday it had "arrested" Prime Minister Ali Zeidan, after he was seized by gunmen from a Tripoli hotel in a dawn raid.
The Operations Cell of Revolutionaries, which in principle reports to the defence and interior ministries, said on Facebook it had seized Zeidan "on the prosecutor's orders".
The premier "was arrested under the Libyan penal code... on the instructions of the public prosecutor", the group said.
[Source: AFP]
Former rebel gunmen freed Libya's prime minister on Thursday after holding him for several
hours in reprisal for the capture by U.S. forces at the weekend of a Libyan al Qaeda suspect in Tripoli, officials said.
A Reuters journalist at the scene said protesters had opened fire at the building where Ali Zeidan was being held to demand that the group, which is affiliated with the government, free
the premier.
"The prime minister has been released," a government official said. A security source also said Zeidan was free.
Two years after a revolution ended Muammar Gaddafi's 42-year rule, Libya is in turmoil, with its vulnerable central government and nascent armed forces struggling to contain rival tribal militias and who control parts of the country.
[Source: Reuters]
Libyan PM Zeidan in Tweet says he is fine and that Militia captors had wanted him to resign.
[Source: Reuters]