By ESAM MOHAMED
Security forces work at the site where a car bomb went off outside the building housing Swedish and Finnish consulates on Friday, Oct. 11, 2013 in Libya’s eastern city of Benghazi, badly damaging the building, but leaving no casualties. Benghazi has been hit by a wave of attacks against government offices and targeted killings in recent months as security agencies struggle to secure Libya since the 2011 civil war. Weapons have proliferated and a number of militias have vied for authority, operating with impunity.(AP Photo/Mohammed el-Shaiky)
TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Libya’s prime minister, who was abducted briefly by gunmen this week, has lashed out at militias fueling turmoil, warning that some want to turn the North African nation into “another Afghanistan or Somalia.”
At a Tripoli press conference Friday, Ali Zidan demanded an “explanation” from the group he says snatched him from his hotel residence Thursday morning and held him for several hours.
He said his captors identified themselves as from the “Revolutionaries’ Operation Room,” a security agency made up of militias.
Armed militias hold sway across Libya, rooted in the “revolutionary” brigades that toppled Moamma Gadhafi in 2011. They have resisted attempts to disarm them and often intimidate officials with violence.
Zidan denounced armed groups that he said have used “guns and bombs” to “terrorize” the government.
