Libyan PM Zeidan Taken From Hotel By Gunmen

Gunmen from a former rebel faction seized Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan from a Tripoli hotel on Thursday (October 10), the government said.

Guards at the Corinthia Hotel said gunmen had taken Zeidan from the hotel but there were no shots fired or clashes during the incident.

One guard described it as an "arrest" while another said the men were militants.

Al-Arabiya television channel quoted Libya's justice minister as saying that Zeidan had been "kidnapped" and showed what it said were video stills of Zeidan frowning and wearing a grey shirt undone at the collar surrounded by several men in civilian clothes pressing closely around him.

Two years after a revolution toppled Libya's Col. Muammar Gaddafi, the fragile central government has been struggling to contain rival tribal militias and Islamist militants who control parts of the country.

Last weekend, the U.S. military captured a top al Qaeda suspect in Tripoli in a raid that angered Islamist militant groups, including one blamed for the 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate, in Benghazi.

The U.S. State Department was looking into the reports of the incident and was "in close touch with senior U.S. and Libyan officials on the ground," spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

Presented by Adam Justice