Britain to explain botched Libya mission

[March 07, 2011]  LONDON (AP) -- Britain says it will send a new team to establish contacts with Libya's opposition despite a botched weekend mission in which special forces soldiers and diplomats were mistaken for mercenaries.

Foreign Secretary William Hague, who authorized the plan, was scheduled to make a statement to Parliament later on Monday to explain the failure. Hague confirmed on Sunday that a diplomatic team had been briefly detained by anti-Gadhafi forces after they landed close to Benghazi. Some of the eight people detained were reportedly carrying explosives and fake passports. In a phone-call broadcast on Libyan television, after the conversation was seemingly intercepted, Britain's ambassador made a humbling apology to an opposition spokesman for the unannounced arrival. [Associated Press] Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.