By Ashraf Abdul Wahab and Tom Westcott.
Tripoli, 1 November 2013:
The head of the Supreme Security Committee (SSC) Hashim Bishr maintains that . . .[restrict]the kidnapping of Nazih Al-Ruqaii, alias Abu Anas Al-Libi, was executed by Libyans, not US Special Forces.
“The American story is saying that the operation was done by American units but our information says that the operation was done by Libyans,” Bishr told the Libya Herald.
Ruquii was snatched on 5 October when he returned to his house after attending early morning prayers at the mosque.
The next day US Secretary of State John Kerry said: “Yesterday our personnel in the armed forces conducted two operations in order to continue to hunt down those responsible for acts of terrorism.” He added that he wanted to “thank and congratulate the quality and courage of those young Americans who took part in those operations.” The second operation was a bungled attempt in Somalia to seize Abdulkadir Mohamed Abdulkadir, a top commander of the islamist militant group Al-Shabaab.
Bishr said the SSC had information about the seizure of Ruqaii, including the direction vehicles involved in the abduction took, from the Nufleen district of Tripoli where he lived, to the coast. “We even know the place he was delivered to, which was one of the ports on the beach.” This is understood to be one of the small mooring places commonly used by fishing boats.
He said an American vessel was identified some 35 nautical miles off the coast of Tripoli that morning, shortly after midnight, adding: “I think this could have been the ship that received Ruqaii.” The vessel had three helicopters on board, he said, but none of these appeared to leave the ship.
It is understood that Ruqaii was questioned on board the vessel, identified as the amphibious transport ship USS San Antonio, before being transferred to America.
He appeared in a New York court on 15 October and pleaded not guilty to charges that he was involved in the double bombing of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which killed 224 people, including 12 Americans.
Bishr said he had not heard of Ruqaii before the abduction. He was in Libya during the revolution and spent some time in Misrata, he said, but it was not clear whether he was involved in any fighting. One of Ruqaii’s sons was killed during the liberation of Tripoli, Bishr added. [/restrict]
