Video shows outrage at capture of Libyan terror suspect that could have sparked Corinthia attack

Suicide bombers claimed attack on Corinthia Hotel was revenge for death of Al Qaeda mastermind who was snatched from Libya by US commandoes in 2013

The son of Abu Anas, reads out a letter shortly after his father's death, surrounded by Islamic State flags
The son of Abu Anas, reads out a letter shortly after his father's death, surrounded by Islamic State flags
Abu Anas's children gaze at their dead father, who passed away while in custody in the United States
Abu Anas's children gaze at their dead father, who passed away while in custody in the United States
Abu Anas al-Libi, 50, was on the FBI's most-wanted list with a $5 million price on his head when he was captured by US troops in the Libyan capital Tripoli in October 2013
Abu Anas al-Libi, 50, was on the FBI's most-wanted list with a $5 million price on his head when he was captured by US troops in the Libyan capital Tripoli in October 2013

A YouTube video has emerged of the son of a captured Al Qaeda terrorist suspect from Libya, vowing revenge upon the United States for the death of his father in US custody.

An attack on Tuesday on the Maltese-owned Corinthia Hotel in Tripoli, which left a former US marine and 13 other people dead, is believed to have been carried out by an Islamic State affiliate exacting revenge for the death of Abu Anas al Libi.

The attack took place during peace talks beind held in Geneva and more attacks could take place by the alleged Islamic State of Tripoli province in a bid to destabilise both Tobruk and Tripoli authorities currently holding sway in Libya.

Libi was captured in Libya by U.S. commandos in October 2013 and brought to New York where he was due to stand trial for the deaths of hundreds in the bombing of US embassies in Africa. He had been wanted for more than a decade and there was a $5 million reward for his arrest. Al-Libi had pleaded not guilty.

Libi, real name Nazih Abdul-Hamed al-Ruqai, was taken from the Metropolitan Correctional Center to a New York hospital in early January 2015 “due to sudden complications arising out of his long-standing medical problems.”

After his death in custody, his son Abdullah al Ruqai was photographed and filmed amongst a crowd holding up ISIS banners and flags.

Libi was captured by three masked men brandishing handguns as they leapt from a white Mercedes van, while he returned in his car from morning prayers at 6:30am. The van pulled up and 10 men got out. Abdullah had insisted that his father was innocent of US accusations that he helped mastermind the bombing of the American embassy in Nairobi with the loss of more than 200 lives in 1998.

His capture sparked outrage over the snatching by American commandos of the Libyan national.

In the 1990s, Libi was regarded as one of Al Qaeda's most capable operatives - an expert in surveillance and computers. Much of what is publicly known about his role in Al Qaeda during the 1990s comes from the testimony of L'houssaine Kherchtou, a Moroccan Al Qaeda operative who knew Libi.

Kherchtou told a federal court in 2001 that Libi followed Osama bin Laden to Khartoum in Sudan in 1992.

Libi, an activist opposed to the rule of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, was subsequently given political asylum in the UK - under unclear circumstances, the Guardian newspaper reports. He is believed to have lived in Manchester.

A police raid was carried out on his home in 2000, in response to itelligence suggesting that Libi might have links to international terrorism. The raid uncovered a document that became known as the ‘Manchester Manual’ – hundreds of pages of guidance on carrying out a terrorist campaign. One of the things the document advocated was “attacking, blasting, and destroying” embassies.

After leaving Britain, Libi is thought to have spent some time in Afghanistan, and then spending a decade in Iran before returning to Libya. His son Abdullah had told The Guardian that the family was kept under arrest by the Iranian government for some seven years before they returned to Libya.