[Ammi]

Gunmen have kidnapped Libya's Prime Minister Ali Zeidan from a luxury Tripoli hotel where he lives, an official has said.

They broke into the building in the centre of the capital and abducted Mr Zeidan and two of his guards, he added.

The PM was taken to an unknown location by a group of men believed to be former rebels, according to the government.

It said it suspected two groups of ex-rebels, the chamber of revolutionaries and the brigade for the fight against crime, of being behind the kidnapping.

The two groups, in principle, fall under the defence and interior ministries

Guards at the Corinthia Hotel said no shots were fired and there were no clashes during the abduction.

One guard described it as an "arrest" while another told Reuters the men were militants.

The kidnapping comes amid anger among Libya's powerful Islamic militant groups over a US special forces raid that seized a Libyan al Qaeda suspect, known as Abu Anas al Libi.

Several groups accused the government of colluding in or allowing Saturday's raid, though the government denied having any prior knowledge of the operation.

Hours before the abduction, Mr Zeidan met al Libi's family late on Wednesday.

Al Libi is suspected of being involved in the twin bombings of US embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania in 1998.

At the weekend, he was taken off the street in Tripoli and whisked away to a US warship in the Mediterranean