Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/453115
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 28 JANUARY 2015 3 News Terrorist threat could have been made known a day earlier A terrorist alert could have been made as early as Monday to the of- fice of the El Emad Towers, a five- tower complex in the El Saddi dis- trict of Tripoli. Libyan state news agency Lana said that the El Emad towers re- ceived a "serious threat" to destroy it. Lana serves the Al Thinni govern- ment from its offices in Beida. The El Emad Towers house some of the leading Libyan and interna- tional companies working in Libya such as Eni, OMV, Total and Repsol. The building began construction in early 1984 and opened in 1990. The report said that the complex had "received over the past couple of days new threats that the resi- dents of Tripoli should expect the destruction of the complex just like the Suq Al-Thalat shopping centre." The previous week, the Suq Al- Thalat, Tripoli's largest supermar- ket, was destroyed in a massive fire. Sources from the management of El Emad told Lana that a number of messages were found in the corri- dors signed by Daesh/Islamic State ordering the separation of men and women at work in all the companies and commercial premises in the of- fice complex. Lana reported that the threats resulted in many employees at the complex absenting themselves from work. Another report claims that one of the banks in the complex received a threatening letter on Thursday and the complex was evacuated at around 2pm. However, it seems that the order to evacuate was not fully imple- mented and that some companies and offices either chose to continue working until the end of the day's work at 4pm, or they did not receive the evacuation order. Lana added that the former Direc- tor of Tripoli's Security Directorate, Colonel Mohamed Swesi, assassi- nated by militias, had flagged the centre as a potential target and re- quested it receive round-the-clock security. over Al Qaeda States in 2013 A LTHOUGH Islamic State's extensive use of Tw it ter and socia l media a l lows media houses to instant ly determine when the terrorist organisa- tion claims an operation to its name, it is another mat ter whether ISIS has a permanent presence inside Libya. The success of ISIS is its fran- chising model, essentia l ly a l- low ing Islamist factions f ight- ing governments to announce they are ta k ing up the Islamic State's mandate to extend the Islamic ca liphate. News of Libyan nationa ls proclaiming their a l legiance to Islamic State came on 3 Octo- ber, 2014, when a Libyan jihad- ist group – the Majlis Shura Shabab a l-Islam, or Islamic Youth Shura Counci l (MSSI) – announced that it had claimed the cit y of Derna as par t of the 'ca liphate'. Derna has a long histor y of Islamist insurrection that su f- fered under the ru le of Libyan dictator Muammar Gadda f i. The MSSI began to conduct hisba (accountabi lit y) w ithin Derna, essentia l ly ca l ling in- div idua ls to account for their "non-Islamic" behav iour, sometimes through v igi lant- ism. The group a lso instituted hu- doud (crimina l punishments under Shari 'a), going so far as to perform a Ta liban-esque public execution at a footba l l stadium on 18 August 2014. Avenging Abu Anas According to yesterday 's at- tackers, the Corinthia at tack was a revenge operation for the death of Abu A nas a l Libi, an a l leged a l Qaeda operative accused of involvement in the bombings of United States embassies in A frica who was captured by US specia l forces in Libya. The Libyan nationa l died in an A merican hospita l on 3 Januar y, 2015. His rea l name was Nazih a l-Ruqaii. The 50 - year-old was accused of play- ing a role in the 1998 US Em- bassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. The t wo bombings k i l led 224 people, including 12 A mericans, and injured thou- sands more. A l Libi died a f ter his a lready poor hea lth sudden ly wors- ened, hav ing been ta ken from the Metropolitan Correctiona l Centre to a New York hospita l due to sudden complications arising out of his long-stand- ing medica l problems. US A rmy Delta Force soldiers snatched him from outside his fami ly home in Tripoli in Oc- tober 2013. He su f fered from advanced hepatitis C, and had been in a hospita l in a coma before his death. His son a lso said his fa- ther had a lso developed liver cancer since his capture. The fami ly held the United States government " f u l ly re- sponsible" for what happened to the man they ca l l a l-Ruqaii, Mouin a l Ruqaii told CN N. Mouin earlier had said that the fami ly had urged the US au- thorities to a l low them to v isit a l Libi, but that those requests had been denied. A l Libi was indicted in 20 01 by the federa l cour t in the Southern District of New York on charges of conspirac y to k i l l US nationa ls, murder, destruc- tion of A merican bui ldings and government proper t y and destruction of nationa l defence uti lities of the United States. More than a decade later, the top US terror suspect was cap- tured on the street in front of his home as he returned in his car from morning prayers. He was then held on a US Nav y ship for severa l days – when he was questioned by members of a high-va lue detainee inter- rogation team – before being ta ken to New York. W hen he appeared in federa l cour t in New York, he pleaded not gui lt y to terrorism charges brought against him and told the judge he played no role in the 1998 at tacks. His w ife said at the time of his capture that he was no longer a member of a l Qaeda, had been liv ing a norma l life and was seek ing a job w ith the Libyan oi l minis- tr y. Libyan suspect captured by United States died in custody in January Top: The children of Abu Anas, real name Nazih al-Ruqaii, gaze on their father in his coffin after he was delivered from the United States where he died of liver cancer. His son is seen addressing a crowd bearing Islamic State flags (centre) and below, photos of ISIS fighters in Derna Libyan Abu Anas Al Libi was an Al Qaeda suspect who was accused in the United States of bombing its embassies in Africa,killing hundreds