Cebu_4_2
29th July 2011, 05:59 PM
Libya rebels to probe commander's killing
Mystery continues to surround the circumstances of the killing of General Abdel Fattah Younes.
Last Modified: 29 Jul 2011 22:07
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The Libyan National Transitional Council has formed a committee to probe the assassination of the head of the rebels' armed forces and two of his aides, after a rebel special forces member accused fellow rebels of killing them.
Abdel Fattah Younes and his aides were killed by gunmen on Thursday, creating a power vacuum at the top of the opposition military hierarchy and raising questions about who was responsible.
Ali Tarhouni, a rebel minister, said that a militia leader, who had asked to fetch Younes from the frontline near the oil town of Brega, had been arrested and had confessed that his subordinates had carried out the killing.
Mustafa Abdul Jalil, the opposition leader, had called Younes "one of the heroes of the 17th of February revolution", a name marking the date of early protests against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's regime.
He did not say Gaddafi's forces were directly responsible for Younes' killing but said Gaddafi was seeking to break the unity of rebel forces. He also issued a stiff warning about unaffiliated "armed groups" in rebel-held cities, saying they needed to join the fight against Gaddafi or risk being arrested by security forces.
A spokesman for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi responded on Friday that al-Qaeda was behind the Younes assassination.
"By this act, al-Qaeda wanted to mark out its presence and its influence in this region" of eastern Libya controlled by the rebels fighting to overthrow Gaddafi, Moussa Ibrahim told reporters. "It is Al-Qaeda that has the power in the east.
Abdul Hakim, a nephew of Younes, said that Younes' body was returned to his family on Thursday, burned and bearing bullet wounds.
Tens of thousands of people gathered in Benghazi's central Courthouse Square - renamed Tahrir Square by the opposition - to observe Friday prayers and mourn Younes' death.
They carried coffins bearing the deceased and chanted, "The blood of martyrs will not be spilled for nothing", under the nervous gaze of security forces.
Fresh allegations
Jalil's remarks
Read a transcript of the Libyan rebel leader's statement (http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/07/20117299425463560.html) on the death of Abdel Fatah Younes.
An angry Mohammed Agoury, a member of the rebel special forces, told the AP news agency that he was present when a group of rebels from a faction known as the February 17 Martyrs' Brigade came to Younes' operations room outside Benghazi before dawn on Wednesday and took him away for interrogation.
Agoury said he tried to accompany his commander, but Younes "trusted them and went alone".
"Instead, they betrayed us and killed him," he said.
The February 17 Martyrs Brigade is a group made up of hundreds of civilians who took up arms to join the rebellion.
Their fighters participate in the front-line battles with Gaddafi's forces, but also act as a semi-official internal security force for the opposition.
Some of its leadership comes from the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group which waged a campaign of violence against Gaddafi's regime in the 1990s.
Agoury said the brigade had an agenda against Younes, because he was previously Gaddafi's interior minister and was involved in the crackdown that crushed the LIFG.
"They don't trust anyone who was with Gaddafi's regime, they wanted revenge," Agoury said.
A member of the Martyrs Brigade said his group had evidence that Younes was a traitor and that the evidence will come out in a few days.
'A man who was a target'
At the cemetary during his funeral, Younis was given a military farewell with a 300-soldier salute before being buried. The crackling of machine guns shot in the air competed with the crowds chanting.
At the graveside, Younis' son, Ashraf, broke down, crying and screaming as they lowered the body into the ground and - in a startling and risky display in a city that was the first to shed Gaddafi's rule nearly six months ago - pleaded hysterically for the return of the Libyan leader to bring stability.
"We want Muammar to come back! We want the green flag back!" he shouted at the crowd, referring to Gaddafi's national banner.
Younis was Gaddafi's interior minister until he defected to the rebellion early in the uprising, which began in February, bringing his forces into the opposition ranks.
"[Younes] is a man who was a target," Al Jazeera's Tony Birtley said. "It is a question of who was he targeted by: Pro-Gaddafi loyalists or people on the opposition side who didn't actually like his politics because there were questions about where his loyalties truly lay."
"This was a man who was the interior minister for Gaddafi. He was a personal friend for 40 years and that friendship shone through," our correspondent said.
"When I [interviewed] him, he said he changed sides because the Gaddafi he knew was not the Gaddafi that was leading the country any longer."
Mark Toner, a US state department spokesman, said the circumstances of Younes' death remained unclear, but he pressed the opposition to shore up any cracks in their front against Gaddafi.
"What's important is that they work both diligently and transparently to ensure the unity of the Libyan opposition,'' Toner said.
Source:
Al Jazeera and agencies
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/07/201172920356337186.html
Mystery continues to surround the circumstances of the killing of General Abdel Fattah Younes.
Last Modified: 29 Jul 2011 22:07
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The Libyan National Transitional Council has formed a committee to probe the assassination of the head of the rebels' armed forces and two of his aides, after a rebel special forces member accused fellow rebels of killing them.
Abdel Fattah Younes and his aides were killed by gunmen on Thursday, creating a power vacuum at the top of the opposition military hierarchy and raising questions about who was responsible.
Ali Tarhouni, a rebel minister, said that a militia leader, who had asked to fetch Younes from the frontline near the oil town of Brega, had been arrested and had confessed that his subordinates had carried out the killing.
Mustafa Abdul Jalil, the opposition leader, had called Younes "one of the heroes of the 17th of February revolution", a name marking the date of early protests against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's regime.
He did not say Gaddafi's forces were directly responsible for Younes' killing but said Gaddafi was seeking to break the unity of rebel forces. He also issued a stiff warning about unaffiliated "armed groups" in rebel-held cities, saying they needed to join the fight against Gaddafi or risk being arrested by security forces.
A spokesman for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi responded on Friday that al-Qaeda was behind the Younes assassination.
"By this act, al-Qaeda wanted to mark out its presence and its influence in this region" of eastern Libya controlled by the rebels fighting to overthrow Gaddafi, Moussa Ibrahim told reporters. "It is Al-Qaeda that has the power in the east.
Abdul Hakim, a nephew of Younes, said that Younes' body was returned to his family on Thursday, burned and bearing bullet wounds.
Tens of thousands of people gathered in Benghazi's central Courthouse Square - renamed Tahrir Square by the opposition - to observe Friday prayers and mourn Younes' death.
They carried coffins bearing the deceased and chanted, "The blood of martyrs will not be spilled for nothing", under the nervous gaze of security forces.
Fresh allegations
Jalil's remarks
Read a transcript of the Libyan rebel leader's statement (http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/07/20117299425463560.html) on the death of Abdel Fatah Younes.
An angry Mohammed Agoury, a member of the rebel special forces, told the AP news agency that he was present when a group of rebels from a faction known as the February 17 Martyrs' Brigade came to Younes' operations room outside Benghazi before dawn on Wednesday and took him away for interrogation.
Agoury said he tried to accompany his commander, but Younes "trusted them and went alone".
"Instead, they betrayed us and killed him," he said.
The February 17 Martyrs Brigade is a group made up of hundreds of civilians who took up arms to join the rebellion.
Their fighters participate in the front-line battles with Gaddafi's forces, but also act as a semi-official internal security force for the opposition.
Some of its leadership comes from the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group which waged a campaign of violence against Gaddafi's regime in the 1990s.
Agoury said the brigade had an agenda against Younes, because he was previously Gaddafi's interior minister and was involved in the crackdown that crushed the LIFG.
"They don't trust anyone who was with Gaddafi's regime, they wanted revenge," Agoury said.
A member of the Martyrs Brigade said his group had evidence that Younes was a traitor and that the evidence will come out in a few days.
'A man who was a target'
At the cemetary during his funeral, Younis was given a military farewell with a 300-soldier salute before being buried. The crackling of machine guns shot in the air competed with the crowds chanting.
At the graveside, Younis' son, Ashraf, broke down, crying and screaming as they lowered the body into the ground and - in a startling and risky display in a city that was the first to shed Gaddafi's rule nearly six months ago - pleaded hysterically for the return of the Libyan leader to bring stability.
"We want Muammar to come back! We want the green flag back!" he shouted at the crowd, referring to Gaddafi's national banner.
Younis was Gaddafi's interior minister until he defected to the rebellion early in the uprising, which began in February, bringing his forces into the opposition ranks.
"[Younes] is a man who was a target," Al Jazeera's Tony Birtley said. "It is a question of who was he targeted by: Pro-Gaddafi loyalists or people on the opposition side who didn't actually like his politics because there were questions about where his loyalties truly lay."
"This was a man who was the interior minister for Gaddafi. He was a personal friend for 40 years and that friendship shone through," our correspondent said.
"When I [interviewed] him, he said he changed sides because the Gaddafi he knew was not the Gaddafi that was leading the country any longer."
Mark Toner, a US state department spokesman, said the circumstances of Younes' death remained unclear, but he pressed the opposition to shore up any cracks in their front against Gaddafi.
"What's important is that they work both diligently and transparently to ensure the unity of the Libyan opposition,'' Toner said.
Source:
Al Jazeera and agencies
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/07/201172920356337186.html