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, reports the BBC.
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.
‘White soldiers’
Initial reports said that an al-Shabab leader had been captured or killed by US Navy Seals in Somalia in a pre-dawn raid in the southern coastal town of Barawe.
However, US officials are now quoted as saying that the Seals failed to find the intended target, which was not identified.
“The Barawe raid was planned a week and a half ago,” a US security official told the New York Times.
“It was prompted by the Westgate attack,” added the official, who was speaking on the condition of anonymity.
Al-Shabab earlier told the BBC that “white soldiers” had arrived by boat in Barawe and rebels had repulsed them, losing a fighter.
Local group commander Mohamed Abu Suleiman said the raid had failed and the group remained in control of Barawe.
Both Britain and Turkey deny al-Shabab claims that their forces were involved in the operation.
Barawe residents said say they were woken up by heavy fighting before dawn.
“Gunfire broke out for about 10-15 minutes,” an eyewitness told AFP news agency.
Al-Shabab has said it carried out the attack in the Westgate shopping centre in Nairobi on 21 September.
Source: UNBConnect
