Libyan PM threatens to bomb oil tanker in port seised by militants

Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zaidan threatened Saturday to bombard a North Korean-flagged oil tanker which docked at Es-Sider oil port that has been seized by gunmen who want to sell oil independently."All parties must respect the sovereignty of Libya," Zaidan told a news conference, and if the oil tanker failed to abide bythe Prosecutor General's order to seize the tanker and arrest its crew "then it will be a subject to a direct bombardment." The Libyan authorities have asked the captain of the tanker to leave the territorial waters but armed men boarded the vessels and stopped it from leaving the area, he said.Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia's embassy in Tripoli denied local media reports that it has links with the oil tanker.In a statement, the embassy affirmed that this tanker did not belong to Saudi Arabia. The statement quoted the ambassador as reaffirming that Saudi Arabia was respecting the sovereignty of Libya and its territorial waters.