TRIPOLI – Libya’s prime minister was seized and held for several hours on Thursday, Oct. 10, by former rebel militiamen angry at the weekend capture by U.S. special forces of a Libyan al-Qaeda suspect in Tripoli.

Ali Zeidan 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.

Gunmen associated with the fragmented Libyan security apparatus had hauled him at dawn from the luxury hotel where he lives under heavy guard. Political sources said the group soon relented in the face of pressure from officials and freed him.

Zeidan

Zeidan, in his televised remarks to the cabinet, thanked some militia who had helped negotiate his freedom and urged them to join the state’s military forces. That is a plea that Libyan leaders have been making since Gaddafi fell, to little effect. Armed bands see little gain in giving up their guns and freedom.

Zeidan had distanced his government from U.S. assertions it had cooperated in Saturday’s capture of Abu Anas al-Liby, wanted for the al Qaeda bombing of the U.S. embassy in Kenya in 1998. But the group which seized the premier appeared to hold him responsible for helping Washington’s operation.

The militia, which was hired by the government to provide security in Tripoli, said it had “arrested” Zeidan after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Libya had a role in the capture of Liby, whose real name is Nazih al-Ragye.