Libya to Ask Mauritania to Extradite Senussi

Libya wants Mauritania to extradite Abdullah al-Senussi, the arrested spymaster of slain dictator Moammar Gadhafi who is wanted by the International Criminal Court, the government said on Saturday.

"Telephone calls are underway by Libyan authorities to request his extradition," spokesman Salah al-Manaa told a news conference in Tripoli.

He added that the prosecutor general had also sent an extradition request to the Mauritanian government through Interpol.

The government "is ready to receive Abdullah al-Senussi and to detain him in a Libyan prison and to give him a fair trial in Libya," Manaa said, adding that the spymaster was accompanied at the time of his arrest "by someone who is believed to be his son."

Senussi was arrested overnight at Nouakchott airport after arriving on a regular flight from Casablanca, Morocco carrying a fake Malian passport, a Mauritanian security official said.

He was taken to the national intelligence agency's office in Nouakchott but it was unclear what the Mauritanian government planned to do with him, said the official.

Meanwhile, French President Nicolas Sarkozy Saturday hailed the arrest and also called for Senussi's extradition to France, his office said.