Libyan Government Holds 4 U.S. Military Personnel

[Valin]

NY Times:

MICHAEL R. GORDON and DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK

December 27, 2013

 

WASHINGTON Four American military personnel have been detained in Libya and were in the Libyan governments custody, an American official said on Friday.

The circumstances of their detention were not clear.

 

Photographs of two American passports and embassy identity cards were later disseminated on Twitter. The State Department had no immediate comment.

 

The episode appears to have taken place in a town just southwest of the historic Roman ruins at Sabratha and about an hours drive from Tripoli, the capital. The area is not known for anti-Western extremists or other obvious threats. In part because it is a tourist area, the district around Sabratha skews relatively liberal and friendly to Westerners.

 

(Snip)