The US raid to snatch a top al-Qaeda suspect off a Tripoli street has confirmed what many Libyans already feared: Post-revolution chaos has made their vast North African country a haven for Islamist militants with transnational ambitions.

Two years after a war backed by the West ousted Muammar Gaddafi, Libya is still fragile, its government weak and its army unable to control vast tracts of territory, where rival militias battle over a share of the country’s spoils.

On Saturday, Nazih al-Ragye, better known as Abu Anas al-Liby, wanted in the bombings of US embassies in Africa 15 years ago, was grabbed by ten men as he made his way from prayers in the south of Tripoli. Some security experts said the seizure of such a high-ranking militant suspect in the Libyan capital highlighted how successive al-Qaeda-linked groups are establishing bases far from its Pakistan-Afghanistan centre.

While Liby was a former exile reported to have returned home last year, increasingly, analysts say, Libya has attracted foreign militants with its weak central authority, uncontrolled land and porous borders to sub Saharan Africa that allow easy flow of arms and men to the region’s hotspots.

“Libya has been seen as a haven for all kinds of radical groups in the absence of a central government that can really control the territory,” Prof. Dirk Vandewalle, a Libya expert and author at Dartmouth College who just returned from Tripoli.

“Certainly, the United States sees Libya as a crucial territory to control whatever terrorism is taking place not just in Libya but also in the Sahel and even into sub Saharan Africa.”

Since Gaddafi’s fall, Islamists, including elements of al-Qaeda, have used Libya to smuggle out weapons and a base for fighters. North Africa is home to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and other Islamist affiliates who either cooperate with the network or sympathise with its ideology.

That influence was clear when Islamist militants were blamed for the attack a year ago on the US consulate in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi during which the US ambassador was killed.

Over the past two years, weapons have made it into Egypt, Mali and Syria from Gaddafi’s former stockpiles, and into the hands of rival militias and former Libyan rebels who refuse to disarm, saying they want to see more of Libya’s wealth.

Its turmoil makes Libya’s central authority precarious even two years after the revolt, as Prime Minister Ali Zeidan fends off pressure from rival tribes and protesters seeking more regional autonomy.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.