hollywoodtone.blogspot.com Militant leader reported seized by US and Libyan troops in Libya
hollywoodtone.blogspot.com Militant leader reported seized by US and Libyan troops in Libya
Tripoli - Back in October when US special forces perhaps with some Libyans seized al Qaeda operative Nazih al-Rugal, also known as Abu Anas al-Libi, the US immediately hailed their involvement as a great victory. Times have changed.
There were threats of Americans being kidnapped. The Libyan government tried to distance itself from the operation and demanded an explanation and even asked for al-Libi to be returned. The Libyan prime minister was briefly kidnapped by militia from the Interior Ministry. The US is loathe to admit involvement in anything unless it is forced to as when four US military personnel were recently apprehended at a checkpoint and then quickly released once they arrived in the capital. Initial reports suggest that US and Libyan forces collaborated to capture Saifallah Benahssine, who is leader of the militant group Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia. When contacted by Foreign Policy by phone, Chuck Prichard, spokesperson for the US Africa Command said: "We have no indications that any U.S. forces were involved". Major Rob Firman, a Pentagon official said: "We have heard the reports, but were not involved". Benahssine is thought to have been a main leader in an attack on the US embassy In September 2012, in Tunisia where the group was formed. The group was also involved in Libya in the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi. Voice of America headlined that Libyan forces had captured Benahssine but the text via Reuters cites a Tunisian state news agency report that refers to both US and Libyan forces:
"U.S. and Libyan forces captured Saifallah Benahssine, the leader of Tunisia's Islamist militant group Ansar al-Sharia, in the Libyan city of Misrata on Monday, Tunisia's state news agency TAP said, citing a security source."The same article says that neither the US Embassy in Libya nor Libyan government officials would confirm the arrest. Some U.S. officials believed that Benahssine or Abu Iyad as he is also known as, had been captured, but others said that reports of his capture were not confirmed. Most sources including RT simply repeat the story as relayed by the Tunisian state news agency. However Anadolu Agency reports the capture as by US military forces and notes that several companions were seized as well. The same article, however, reports the deputy head of Misrata's local council Attia al-Dareeni as denying the claimed capture altogether. Another article reports that Ansar al Sharia denied the capture through its Twitter account:
".. the group charged that the "lying media" deliberated invented the story of Abu Iyad's capture in order to push Salafist youth into a physical response. It added: "Ansar al Sharia in Tunisia takes the hands of its youth in particular, and the youth of the Salafist current in general, to be careful with themselves from such rumors, the publishers of which cannot be sated or refreshed in their market without lying and falsifying. Evil indeed is that which they shall bear!" "We can conclude that Abu Iyad aka Benahssine was captured in Misrata by Libyan and US forces, or perhaps Libyan forces alone, or perhaps not at all.
hollywoodtone.blogspot.com Militant leader reported seized by US and Libyan troops in Libya