ROLINSKING

Thursday, October 10, 2013

'Taken at dawn': Libyan PM Ali Zeidan seized by gunmen, later released

Libyan PM Ali Zeidan has been freed after being kidnapped in Tripoli by gunmen. "Way Too Early" host Brian Shactman has the updates.

By Ayman Mohyeldin and Alexander Smith, NBC News

Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan was taken by force from a hotel in Tripoli early Thursday but freed by his captors hours later, the country's Ministry for Information spokesman said.
His detention came days after militant groups pledged to retaliate over a raid by U.S. special forces to seize al Qaeda suspect Abu Anas al-Libi.
About 100 trucks of armed men arrived at dawn at the Corinithian Hotel where Zedian was living, and he was taken without an exchange of fire, a senior government official said.

Advertise | AdChoicesZeidan was taken "by gunmen to an unknown place for unknown reasons," a government statement said.He was freed unharmed but the incident underlined the anarchy prevailing in the oil-rich North African state, two years after the Western-backed overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi. "Libyans need wisdom ... not escalation ... to deal with this situation," he told his cabinet in remarks broadcast on television after his six-hour ordeal in the capital, according to Reuters.

Al Arabiya via Reuters

A still image aired by broadcaster Al Arabiya shows what it says is Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan surrounded by men at an unidentified location.

Before the prime minister's release, Saudi TV channel Al Arabiya broadcast images of a disheveled man it said was the prime minister being escorted by armed men.
A group known as the Operations Room of Libya's Revolutionaries, which was hired to provide security in Tripoli, claimed to be behind the incident. It told Reuters it had “arrested” the prime minster in response to Saturday's raid.
The former militants said they believed Zeidan's administration colluded with the U.S. in the raids, something the Libyan government has so far denied. According to a government official, the group claims it was acting based on an investigation by the government's anti-corruption unit.
Zeidan has been the focus of internal investigations involving bribes and corruption, but neither the ministry for the interior nor the general prosecutor have given an order for his arrest.
The senior government official told NBC News they did not consider Zeidan's abduction to be a "kidnapping."
Following al-Libi's capture on Saturday, Zeidan had called on the U.S. to explain its actions and had met with al-Libi's family late Wednesday, hours before the prime minister was taken.

In messages posted on forums and social media earlier this week, a group called the Revolutionaries of Benghazi accused Libyan authorities of assisting the American operation and vowed to fight "everyone who betrayed his country and involved himself in this conspiracy."

Abu Anas al-Libi is a suspect in the 1998 US Embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya. He was captured outside his house on Saturday and is now in custody aboard a US Navy ship.

Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Related:

Friday, October 4, 2013

Lagos, Nigeria (CNN) -- A plane carrying 20 people crashed on takeoff from Nigeria's Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos on Thursday, killing 14, the nation's aviation minister said.

"The six survivors were promptly transported to the hospital and are receiving appropriate medical care," Princess Stella Oduah-Ogiemwonyi said in a statement on her Facebook page.

Two of the injured were in critical condition, and four were in stable condition, said her spokesman, Joe Obi, on her Facebook page.

The incident occurred at 9:32 a.m. when an Embraer 120 operated by Associated Airlines on a private charter flight to Akure crashed shortly after takeoff from the airport's domestic wing and burst into flames, she said.

First responders reached the crash site and extinguished the fire within two minutes, "despite the surging crowd," she said.

The flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder have both been recovered from the wreckage, said Muhtar Usman, commissioner with the Nigerian Accident Investigation Bureau.

__i18n_ovi.service.map._t46__
__i18n_ovi.service.map._t45__
__i18n_ovi.service.map._t44__
__i18n_ovi.service.map._t43__

200 km

The identities of the victims were being withheld pending notification of relatives, Oduah-Ogiemwony said.

Among the passengers were relatives of the late former governor of Ondo state, Olusegun Agagu, who were accompanying his body on the flight, Nigerian state-run TV broadcaster NTA reported.

Agagu was a former aviation minister in Nigeria.

In a statement from an adviser, President Goodluck Jonathan extended his condolences to relatives of the dead.

"President Jonathan views the plane crash as most unfortunate and regrettable, given the concerted efforts of the federal government to enhance aviation safety in the country," said the spokesman, Reuben Abati. "He has therefore ordered a thorough investigation of the crash by all relevant agencies with a view to determining the cause and taking further actions, as may become necessary."

14 dead as charter plane crash-lands in Lagos

By Joel Olatunde Agoi (AFP) – 13 hours ago

Lagos — A Nigerian charter plane with 20 people on board suffered engine failure shortly after takeoff from Lagos on Thursday, crash-landing near an airport fuel depot and killing at least 14 people, officials said.
The aircraft made by the Brazilian firm Embraer and operated by Nigeria's Associated Airlines took off at 9:30 am (0830 GMT) from Lagos's Murtala Mohammed International Airport, the aviation ministry said in a statement.
The flight destined for Akure in southwestern Ondo state crashed two minutes after takeoff with 13 passengers and seven crew on board, according to the ministry.
There were "six survivors and 14 fatalities," Aviation Minister Stella Oduah said in a statement.
An official from the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency told AFP the cause of the crash was engine failure and that the plane burst into flames after hitting the ground.
President Goodluck Jonathan has called for a probe into the disaster, a statement from his office said.
Jonathan has "ordered a thorough investigation of the crash by all relevant agencies with a view to determining the cause and taking further actions, as may become necessary," it said.
Authorities hardly ever make public results of probes into air crashes in Nigeria.
The plummeting aircraft narrowly missed a series of large, fuel-laden containers that lie between the international and domestic terminals, ultimately crashing in a muddy area, an AFP reporter said.
Rescue workers and firefighters combed through the charred and scattered fuselage, some of which was embedded in the heavy mud.
The aircraft's black box had been located and handed over to aviation officials, Yakubu Dati, an aviation ministry spokesman at the scene told AFP.
The plane was carrying the remains of ex-Ondo state governor Olusegun Agagu, who had been set for burial this weekend, Joe Obi, another aviation ministry spokesman, told AFP.
Reports were circulating in Nigeria's media about prominent figures who may have perished in the crash, but details could not be confirmed.
"We will make the identities of the victims public" after their families have been informed, said the aviation minister.
Associated Airlines was said to be a small domestic charter service, but company staff were not available to comment and aviation officials provided no details about the carrier.
The crash will likely create further unease about air travel within Nigeria.
The accident came just over a year after a plane belonging to another domestic carrier, Dana Air, crashed following an engine failure as it approached Lagos on a flight that originated in the capital Abuja.
All 153 people on board were killed, along with six others on the ground as the plane plunged into a densely packed residential neighbourhood, destroying a three-story building in June 2012.
The day before the Dana crash, a Nigerian-operated cargo flight slammed into a passenger vehicle on the tarmac at the main airport in Ghana's capital Accra, killing 10 people.
Nigeria vowed to clean up its domestic air industry after the Dana Air crash, promising enhanced safety checks and more rigorous standards.
The head of the civil aviation agency was fired earlier this year.
The Dana Air crash was said to have been the deadliest in Nigeria since 1992, when a military C-130 transport plane went down after takeoff in Lagos, killing around 200 people on board.
The country's domestic air industry has been mired in a state of nearly perpetual crisis, with leading carrier Air Nigeria closing operations last year following a wave of labour disputes.
Because of poor service and frequent delays on many internal flights, charter services are common, especially among the political and business elite.