Gerald
07-29-11, 02:40 PM
Gen Abdel Fattah Younes was an ally of Col Gaddafi for many years.
Mystery surrounds the circumstances of the killing of Libya's rebel military commander, Gen Abdel Fattah Younes, a day after he and two aides were shot.
Rebel leader Mustafa Abdul-Jalil said they had been killed by gunmen after Gen Younes was recalled from the front.
He said the ringleader of the attack had been held but he gave no details about his identity or the motive.
Hundreds of mourners carried a coffin containing the general's body into Benghazi's main square.
"We got the body yesterday here [in Benghazi], he had been shot and burned," Gen Younes' nephew, Abdul Hakim, said as he followed the coffin in the square.
"He had called us at 1000 (0800 GMT on Thursday) to say he was on his way here," he told Reuters news agency.
Another nephew told the crowd of mourners that they would remain loyal to Mr Jalil and the rebel cause.
"A message to Mustafa Abdul-Jalil: We will walk with you all the way," Reuters quoted Mohammed Younes as saying.
"Libya first, until God gives us victory or chooses us as martyrs."
International suspicions
The general - a former interior minister who had served at the heart of Col Muammar Gaddafi's regime since the 1969 coup - joined the rebels at the beginning of the Libyan uprising in February.
The BBC's Ian Pannell in the rebel-held city of Misrata says his defection was seen as a coup for the opposition, but there had been rumours that he had kept contacts with the Gaddafi leadership.
Our correspondent says the death will feed international suspicions that the rebels cannot be trusted.
Mr Jalil announced the general's death late on Thursday, and said the head of the group of men who killed him had been captured.
Mr Jalil, who heads the rebel National Transitional Council, did not say who the assailants were or where the attack took place.
He said there would be three days of mourning in their honour.
It has not been disclosed where the attack took place; nor where the bodies were found.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14338212
Note: 29 July 2011 Last updated at 13:34 GMT
Mystery surrounds the circumstances of the killing of Libya's rebel military commander, Gen Abdel Fattah Younes, a day after he and two aides were shot.
Rebel leader Mustafa Abdul-Jalil said they had been killed by gunmen after Gen Younes was recalled from the front.
He said the ringleader of the attack had been held but he gave no details about his identity or the motive.
Hundreds of mourners carried a coffin containing the general's body into Benghazi's main square.
"We got the body yesterday here [in Benghazi], he had been shot and burned," Gen Younes' nephew, Abdul Hakim, said as he followed the coffin in the square.
"He had called us at 1000 (0800 GMT on Thursday) to say he was on his way here," he told Reuters news agency.
Another nephew told the crowd of mourners that they would remain loyal to Mr Jalil and the rebel cause.
"A message to Mustafa Abdul-Jalil: We will walk with you all the way," Reuters quoted Mohammed Younes as saying.
"Libya first, until God gives us victory or chooses us as martyrs."
International suspicions
The general - a former interior minister who had served at the heart of Col Muammar Gaddafi's regime since the 1969 coup - joined the rebels at the beginning of the Libyan uprising in February.
The BBC's Ian Pannell in the rebel-held city of Misrata says his defection was seen as a coup for the opposition, but there had been rumours that he had kept contacts with the Gaddafi leadership.
Our correspondent says the death will feed international suspicions that the rebels cannot be trusted.
Mr Jalil announced the general's death late on Thursday, and said the head of the group of men who killed him had been captured.
Mr Jalil, who heads the rebel National Transitional Council, did not say who the assailants were or where the attack took place.
He said there would be three days of mourning in their honour.
It has not been disclosed where the attack took place; nor where the bodies were found.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14338212
Note: 29 July 2011 Last updated at 13:34 GMT