An alleged al-Qaeda chief has died in New York just days before he was due to stand trial for a terror attack which killed 224 people.

Abu Anas al-Libi, once one of the FBI's most-wanted terrorists, was accused of plotting the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which left 12 Americans dead.

He was seized on the streets of Libya's capital in October 2013 by US troops, and had been suffering from hepatitis C and advanced liver cancer.

He died of complications from surgery, and his wife - Um Abdullah - is accusing the US government of "kidnapping, mistreating and killing an innocent man".

She added: "His voice was weak and he was in a bad condition. It seems they didn't keep him for enough time in hospital."

During an interrogation aboard a US warship, Libi (49) made an incriminating statement. But last October, looking pale and thin, he told a federal court that he was on hunger strike at the time.