Libyan prime minister quickly freed

TRIPOLI, Libya – The abduction was brief but still audacious: Gunmen from one of Libya’s many militias stormed a hotel where the prime minister has a residence and held him for several hours Thursday – apparently in retaliation for his government’s alleged collusion with the U.S. in a raid last weekend that captured an al-Qaida suspect.

The brazen seizure of Prime Minister Ali Zidan heightened the alarm over the power of unruly militias that virtually hold the weak central government hostage. Many of the militias include Islamic militants and have ideologies similar to al-Qaida’s.

At the same time, the state relies on militias to act as security forces, since the police and military remain in disarray after dictator Moammar Gadhafi was overthrown and killed in 2011.

Many militias are paid by the Defense or Interior ministries – which are in charge of the military and police respectively – although the ministries are still unable to control them.

Not only was Zidan abducted by militiamen who officially work in a state body, it took other militias to rescue him by storming the site where he was held in the capital.

“The abduction is like the shock that awakened Libyans. Facts on the ground now are clearer than never before: Libya is ruled by militias,” said prominent rights campaigner Hassan al-Amin.

Zidan’s abduction came before dawn Thursday, when about 150 gunmen in pickup trucks stormed the luxury Corinthia Hotel in downtown Tripoli, witnesses told the Associated Press. They swarmed into the lobby and some charged up to Zidan’s residence on the 21st floor.

The gunmen scuffled with Zidan’s guards before they seized him and led him out at around 5:15 a.m., said the witnesses, speaking on condition of anonymity because they feared for their own safety. They said Zidan offered no resistance.

In the afternoon, government spokesman Mohammed Kaabar told the LANA news agency that Zidan had been “set free.”

A militia commander affiliated with the Interior Ministry said his fighters, along with armed groups from two Tripoli districts, Souq Jomaa and Tajoura, stormed the house where Zidan was being held, exchanged fire with the captors and rescued him.

“He is now safe in a safe place,” Haitham al-Tajouri, commander of the Reinforcement Force, said in an interview with Al-Ahrar TV.

Zidan later appeared at a Cabinet session that was broadcast live. He thanked those who helped free him but gave no details and avoided blaming those behind the abduction.