Libyan militant wanted by US captured in Tripoli

A Libyan Al Qaeda leader, wanted for his role in the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in East Africa, has been captured in Tripoli by U.S. forces, Fox News confirms.

U.S. forces on Saturday captured an Al Qaeda leader in Libya linked to the 1998 American embassy bombings in east Africa and wanted by the U.S. for more than a decade, a U.S. official said.

The official identified the Al Qaeda leader as Nazih Abdul-Hamed al-Ruqai, known by his alias Anas Al Liby. His capture would represent a significant blow to what remains of the core Al Qaeda organization once led by Usama bin Laden.

Family members said gunmen in a three-car convoy seized Al Liby outside his home in the Libyan capital, Tripoli. Al Liby is believed to have returned to Libya during the 2011 civil war that led to the ouster and killing of dictator Moammar Qaddafi.

His brother, Nabih, said the 49-year-old was parking outside his house early Saturday after dawn prayers, when three vehicles encircled his vehicle. The gunmen smashed his car's window and seized his gun before grabbing him and fleeing. The brother said Al Liby's wife saw the kidnapping from her window and described the abductors as foreign-looking armed "commandos."

The U.S. official said there were no U.S. casualties in the operation. The official was not authorized to speak publicly and requested anonymity.

Al Liby is on the FBI's most-wanted list with a $5 million bounty on his head. He was indicted by a federal court in the Southern District of New York, for his alleged role in the bombings of the United States Embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya, on August 7, 1998, that killed more than 250 people.

Libyan officials did not return calls seeking comment on Al Liby's abduction and the U.S. issued no immediate statements. His brother said he failed to contact authorities over the matter.

Al Liby was believed to be a computer specialist with Al Qaeda. He studied electronic and nuclear engineering, graduating from Tripoli University, and was an anti-Qaddafi activist.

He is believed to have spent time in Sudan where Usama bin Laden was based in the early 1990s. After bin Laden was forced to leave Sudan, Al Liby turned up in Britain in 1995 where he was granted political asylum in Britain under unclear circumstances and lived in Manchester. He apparently fled Britain in 2000 when his name was added to the FBI's most wanted list.

There were a number of reports of his arrest, which were later denied by U.S. officials. In 2007, Human Rights Watch said it believed he was among about two dozen people who may have once been held in secret CIA prisons. The group said it believed he was held in Sudan, but didn't elaborate, and said his whereabouts were later unknown.

Al Liby's family returned to Libya a year before the revolt against Qaddafi, under an initiative by Qaddafi's son Seif al-Islam who sought to reconcile with militants who renounce violence, a close friend said, refusing to identify himself because of security concerns.

The friend said Al Liby's son was killed during the civil war as rebels marched on the capital, ousting Qaddafi. His son's name is scribbled as a graffiti on the walls of the street where his family resides, in an affluent neighborhood in Tripoli.

Since Qaddafi's fall, Libya has been rocked by lawlessness, as militia groups have challenged the central government's power, and assassinations and revenge attacks spread.

Last year, militants attacked the U.S. Consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi, killing the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans. According to official documents, Al Liby is not among those wanted for that attack.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.