Libya prime minister: Kidnapping was an attempted 'coup' By Nic Robertson. Yousuf Basil and Chelsea J. Carter, CNN October 11, 2013 -- Updated 2031 GMT (0431 HKT) Prime Minister Ali Zeidan was abducted from his hotel room He was released by a militia that he says was carrying forged papers Zeidan says the militia claimed to have a warrant for his arrest He calls his abduction a "coup against legitimacy" Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan on Friday described his kidnapping this week as an attempted coup carried out by political opponents bent on toppling his government. Zeidan was abducted early Thursday from a luxury hotel in Tripoli and held for several hours by militia gunmen before being released, an incident that has highlighted the security threat posed by militias that have run rampant since the revolution that ousted Moammar Gadhafi two years ago. "I don't believe that 100 cars armed with heavy weapons can surround the hotel and lock it down and create checkpoints to prevent people from passing ... without an order from their leadership," Zeidan said in televised remarks. ..."This was coup, a coup against the legitimacy" of the government. Zeidan blamed political opponents for his abduction, saying they had been trying to take over the government. He said his abductors identified themselves as members of the Operations Room of Libya's Revolutionaries, a militia group. Zeidan said his abductors, who forced their way into his room at the Corinthia Hotel before dawn, were carrying forged papers and claimed they had orders from Libya's general prosecutor. He said the gunmen entered a number of hotel rooms belonging to diplomatic and international missions. "They entered my room forcefully and took me, and I couldn't stop them," Zeidan said, adding that they ransacked his room. He said they took documents and his computer. In remarks to a Cabinet meeting broadcast on Libyan state TV on Thursday, Zeidan said he did not want to see the situation escalate and urged Libyans to show "wisdom." But the Operations Room of Libya's Revolutionaries said it merely detained him over financial and administrative corruption charges. Justice Minister Salah Marghani was forced to evacuate after armed militias surrounded his ministry in April. CNN's Nic Robertson reported from Tripoli; Yousuf Basil and Chelsea J. Carter from Atlanta. CNN's Jomana Karadsheh contributed to this report.