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| Libya's Prime Minister Ali Zeidan speaks during a news conference at the headquarters of the Prime Minister's Office in Tripoli, |
Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan has been released after being held for several hours by assailants in Tripoli.
A Libyan government spokesman says Zeidan is back to his duties Thursday, hours after being kidnapped from his hotel in the capital.
There were few details, but initial reports indicated that security forces helped secure his release.
Earlier, Libyan officials said armed men kidnapped the prime minister for unknown reasons.
A guard at the hotel described the scene. He said there were about 150 civilian cars displaying the logo of the Committee of the Libya Revolutionaries.
A group of former rebels known as the Operations Room of Libya's Revolutionaries claimed responsibility for seizing the prime minister, saying they "arrested" him.
The brazen attack came after militant groups threatened retaliation for the U.S. military capturing leading al-Qaida figure Abu Anas al-Libi in Tripoli Saturday.
The Libyan government tried to distance itself from the raid, but militants and other Libyans have been furious that American forces carried out the operation on sovereign territory.
Prime Minister Zeidan, who holds executive powers, has struggled to reunite and rebuild a nation fragmented after the toppling of long-time leader Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. Local militias and jihadist groups hold sway over much of the country.
Saad Eddin Ibrahim, chairman of the Ibn Khaldun Center, attributes the lawlessness to the difficulty of a country that has had little national cohesion except for Gadhafi's rule.
"The Gadhafi tribe kind of absorbed and became the state, so for nearly 40 years, the state and the Gadhafi tribe were one and the same," said Ibrahim.
Militants have also attacked foreign missions, most recently the Russian embassy, the French embassy earlier this year, and the U.S. consulate in Benghazi in 2012, killing the U.S. ambassador.
A Libyan government spokesman says Zeidan is back to his duties Thursday, hours after being kidnapped from his hotel in the capital.
There were few details, but initial reports indicated that security forces helped secure his release.
Earlier, Libyan officials said armed men kidnapped the prime minister for unknown reasons.
A guard at the hotel described the scene. He said there were about 150 civilian cars displaying the logo of the Committee of the Libya Revolutionaries.
A group of former rebels known as the Operations Room of Libya's Revolutionaries claimed responsibility for seizing the prime minister, saying they "arrested" him.
The brazen attack came after militant groups threatened retaliation for the U.S. military capturing leading al-Qaida figure Abu Anas al-Libi in Tripoli Saturday.
The Libyan government tried to distance itself from the raid, but militants and other Libyans have been furious that American forces carried out the operation on sovereign territory.
Prime Minister Zeidan, who holds executive powers, has struggled to reunite and rebuild a nation fragmented after the toppling of long-time leader Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. Local militias and jihadist groups hold sway over much of the country.
Saad Eddin Ibrahim, chairman of the Ibn Khaldun Center, attributes the lawlessness to the difficulty of a country that has had little national cohesion except for Gadhafi's rule.
"The Gadhafi tribe kind of absorbed and became the state, so for nearly 40 years, the state and the Gadhafi tribe were one and the same," said Ibrahim.
Militants have also attacked foreign missions, most recently the Russian embassy, the French embassy earlier this year, and the U.S. consulate in Benghazi in 2012, killing the U.S. ambassador.
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