Snatched in 60 seconds: Amazing surveillance footage shows how US special forces took only ONE minute to grab terror suspect from outside his home in Libya
- Surveillance footage shows Nazih Abdul-Hamed al-Ruqai, better known as Anas al-Libi being grabbed from outside his Tripoli, Libya, home on October 5
- Al-Libi, 49, was taken by Delta Force soldiers in a raid planned in co-operation with the CIA, FBI and the Libyan government
- The raid has been described as precise as brain surgery and takes one minute
- Al-Libi was transported to New York City where he is awaiting trial for his part in the 1998 bombings of the US Embassy's in Kenya and Tanzania
- More than 200 people died in the attacks
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Dramatic surveillance footage shows the moment when US Delta Force special forces surgically extracted al-Qaeda terrorist Anas al-Libi from outside his home in Libya on October 5.
The early morning raid, which has been described as akin to 'brain surgery-level of precision', took the eight-man team exactly 60-seconds to ambush the terror suspect inside his car in Tripoli and then bundle him into their own white van.
Al-Libi, 49, who is suspected of masterminding the 1998 bombings of the US Embassy's in Kenya and Tanzania was rushed away from his home to the USS San Antonio in the Mediterranean to be questioned by the High Value Detainee Interrogation Group before being taken to New York City.
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Rush: In this screen grab from the surveillance
video obtained by The Washington post two men can be seen exiting the
white van that has pulled up alongside the dark car of Nazih Abdul-Hamed
al-Ruqai, better known as Anas al-Libi
The rare glimpse of covert operations, which was obtained by The Washington Post, unfolds just like a scene from a Tom Clancy novel and begins with al-Libi's dark car coming around the corner to park outside his Tripoli home.
From behind his car a white van rushes to pull up alongside and men rush out brandishing weapons pointing them at al-Libi's car.
There then appears to be a brief scuffle which ends with al-Libi being yanked from his vehicle and bundled into the van.
No shots appear to be fired and once the terror suspect is inside the white van, the doors close on both his dark car and the Delta Force vehicle - at which point both drive off - presumably with a Delta Force soldier at the wheel of al-Libi's car.
Another white car, which had been providing back-up at the end of the street behind the extraction then zooms away too.
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Captured: Anas al-Libi, a suspected terrorist,
is shown in this photo released by the FBI October 10, 2001 in
Washington, D.C. Al-Libi is now in custody in New York City waiting
trial for his involvement in the 1998 bombings of the US Embassy's in
Tanzania and Kenya
The entire operation takes 60 seconds and one former Army special operations soldier told ABC News that having observed the video it was like watching 'brain surgery-level of prescision.'
Indeed, in the immediate aftermath of the cars speeding away, bemused residents of al-Libi's home can be seen rushing out onto the roof of the house to see what the commotion was all about.
After his interrogation by the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group, al-Libi was then brought to New York to face terrorism-related charges for the bombings of the US Embassy's in Kenya and Tanzania.
He has pleaded not guilty and al-Libi's attorney, Bernard Kleinman, told The Washington Post his client never swore allegiance to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and was not involved in the embassy attacks.
'My client is innocent of any and all actions that either directly or indirectly resulted in the bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in August 1998,' Kleinman said according to The Washington Post.
'His trial will prove this beyond any doubt whatsoever.'
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Terror: US Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright looks 18 August at damage from a bomb at the US embassy in Dar
Es Salaam, Tanzania where 10 people were killed and 72 injured when the
device detonated on August 7, 1998
The raid was the result of 13-years of planning by the CIA, FBI and the US Army's Delta Force as they hunted the man accused of being responsible for the deaths of more than 200 people in East Africa at the end of the 1990s.
He is awaiting trial in New York, held in the special housing unit of a jail across from the federal courthouse.
In his defense, al-Libi has reminded the courts that he offered assistance in the 2011 overthrow of Gaddafi, after he moved back to Libya when Iran asked him and his family to leave in 2010 without explanation.
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Devastation: Construction workers prepare to
fence off damaged shops and offices 17 August at the scene of a bomb
blast that killed 247 people in Nairobi on August 7 in 1998
However, US officials have said that they were concerned at his presence in Libya following the removal of Gaddafi and believed he was a serious threat to the American embassy in Tripoli.
They added that official permission was sought from Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan to conduct the raid which was granted.
However, the Libyan government is now paying for al-Libi's defense according to State Department sources.
Read more:
- http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/video-shows-us-abduction-of-accused-al-qaeda-terrorist-on-trial-for-embassy-bombings/2014/02/10/7f84927a-8f6b-11e3-b46a-5a3d0d2130da_story.html
- http://www.washingtonpost.com/posttv/world/us-commandos-abduct-al-qaeda-suspect/2014/02/10/f177a644-926b-11e3-b3f7-f5107432ca45_video.html
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