This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/6069

Terrorist Behind Kenya And Nairobi U.S. Embassy Bombings Anas al- Libi Captured By FBI Force In Libya

October 5, 2013

5 October 2013 Last updated at 20:48 ET

US commando raids 'target Islamist leaders in Africa'

body-narrow-width"> Al-Libi has been on the FBI's most wanted list

Somalia: Failed State

US special forces have carried out two separate raids in Africa targeting senior Islamist militants, American officials say.

In Libya, US commandos are said to have captured an al-Qaeda leader accused of the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

Anas al-Libi was reportedly seized in Tripoli.

And a leader of the al-Shabab group was targeted in southern Somalia, but that raid appears to have failed.

The al-Shabab leader - who has not been identified - is suspected of involvement in last month's attack in the Westgate shopping centre in Kenya's capital Nairobi, which left at least 67 people dead.

$5m bounty

Anas al-Libi's relatives and US officials said he had been seized in the Libyan capital early on Saturday.

He was parking outside his house when three vehicles encircled him, his car's window was smashed and his gun was seized before he was taken away, his brother Nabih was quoted as saying by AP.

He added that Libi's wife wife also saw the attack, describing the abductors as foreign-looking "commandos".

The raid was conducted with the knowledge of the Libyan government, a US official was quoted as saying by CNN.

The 49-year-old is believed to be one of the masterminds of the 1998 US embassy attacks, which killed more than 220 people in Kenya and Tanzania.

He has been indicted in New York's court in connection with the attacks.

Libi - whose real name is Nazih Abdul-Hamed al-Ruqai- has been on the FBI's most wanted list for more than a decade with a $5m (£3.1m) bounty on his head.

If confirmed, his capture would be the latest blow to al-Qaeda, whose leadership has been consistently targeted since the killing of Osama Bin Laden by US special forces in 2011 in Pakistan.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-24417099

This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/6069