US team questions seized al-Qaeda suspect

Tripoli. A US interrogation team is questioning the alleged senior al-Qaeda figure who was seized by special operations forces in Libya and then whisked onto a navy ship in the Mediterranean Sea, US officials said.Nazih al-Ragye, better known by the cover name Abu Anas al-Liby, is being held aboard the USS San Antonio, an amphibious transport dock ship, the officials said on Monday.He is being questioned by the US High Value Detainee Interrogation Group, an inter-agency unit created in 2009 and housed in the FBI’s National Security Branch.The group specialises in garnering information from suspects to prevent planned attacks.A suspect in the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 civilians, Liby was captured on the streets of Tripoli on Saturday and quickly taken out of the North African country.The successful capture of Liby and a failed weekend attempt by US commandos to capture an al-Shabab leader in Somalia offered evidence that the US is still willing to use ground troops to seize wanted figures.The raid in Tripoli was carried out by the US army’s special operations Delta Force, an official said.Libyan armed groups called for the kidnapping of American citizens in Tripoli and for attacks on gas pipelines, ships and planes to avenge the capture of Liby.Messages posted by Libyan fighters on the internet and monitored by the SITE service included a Facebook page called “Benghazi is Protected by its People”.It told Libyans to close off entrances and exits to the capital and kidnap citizens of the United States and its alliesin order to use them to bargain for the release of imprisoned fighters.It also urged them to damage pipelines exporting gas to Europe, and target ships and planes.“Libya today is still a place of disbelief that is ruled by something other than the Shariah of Allah; thus, there is nosecurity for disbelievers there,” the message said.In another message posted on forums and social media, a group called “the Revolutionaries of Benghazi - al-Bayda, Derna” condemned the al-Qaeda leader’s capture.