Libyan PM Released

Libyan Prime Minister, Ali Zeidan, was released on Thursday several hours after being seized from a Tripoli hotel by former rebel militiamen, the foreign minister said.
“He has been freed but we have no details so far on the circumstances of his release,” Mohammed Abdelaziz told AFP.
Government spokesman Mohamed Kaabar told the state LANA news agency that the premier had been “freed, not released”, without saying how.
He said Zeidan was “in good health” but did not elaborate on what he meant by his not being released.
Moments before news broke of Zeidan’s release, Deputy Prime Minister Al-Seddik Abdelkarim had vowed that the government would not give into the demands of the perpetrators of a “criminal act.”
“The government will not give in to blackmail by anyone,” he said.
The pre-dawn seizure of Zeidan came five days after United States commandos embarrassed and angered Libya’s government by capturing senior Al-Qaeda suspect Abu Anas al-Libi off the streets of Tripoli and took him away on a warship.
A source in the premier’s office said Zeidan had been taken by gunmen from Tripoli’s Corinthia Hotel, where he resides. A hotel employee confirmed a pre-dawn raid by “a large number of armed men.”
The cabinet met in emergency session earlier in the morning.