Officer Accuses Fellow Rebels in Libya Killing

By Biodun Iginla and Rashida Adjani, BBC News

Published: July 29, 2011 at 11:49 AM ET

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BENGHAZI, Libya — A special forces member under the command of the Libyan rebels' slain military chief has accused a rebel faction in the killing.

Mohammed Agoury told The Associated Press on Friday that he was present when a group of rebels from a faction known as the February 17 Martyrs' Brigade came to Abdel-Fattah Younis' operations room and took him away with them for interrogation.

Agoury accused the group of killing Younis and dumping his body outside Benghazi.

The accusation could mark a split among the rebel movement that controls eastern Libya and has been locked in a military stalemate with forces of Moammar Gadhafi.

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BENGHAZI, Libya — Thousands of mourners marched in the funeral procession Friday for the Libyan rebels' slain military chief, a day after he was gunned down under still mysterious circumstances.

Abdel-Fattah Younis was killed as he traveled from his front lines operations room to the rebels' de facto capital Benghazi. Attending his funeral, his nephew Hisham al-Obaidi told The Associated Press that the attackers shot Younis, then slit his throat, set fire to his body and dumped it outside Benghazi.

The death spread fear and confusion in Benghazi, where heavy gunfire crackled in the early hours Friday. Residents worried about the possibility it could undermine the rebels' military forces, leaving the opposition-held east vulnerable to attack by Moammar Gadhafi's forces.

Equally worrisome was the possibility his killing may point to a split among rebels. The circumstances of his death remained almost entirely unexplained. The head of the rebel National Transitional Council, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, blamed "gunmen" and said one man had been arrested, but Abdul-Jalil did not say what he believed motivated the killers.

Abdul-Jalil said Younis had been "summoned" to Benghazi for questioning on a "military matter" and was killed along with two aides while on route. But hours before the commander's death was announced, rebel military spokesman Mohammed al-Rijali had said Younis was taken to Benghazi for "interrogation" on suspicion his family might still have ties to Gadhafi regime, raising questions about whether he might have been assassinated by his own side.

Younis was Gadhafi's interior minister before defecting to the rebels early in the uprising, which began in February. His abandoning of the Libyan leader raised Western hopes that the growing opposition could succeed in forcing out the country's ruler of more than four decades.

Rebel forces, however, held mixed views of the man, with some praising him for defecting and others suspicious of him because of his long association with Gadhafi.

Hundreds of mourners marched behind Younis' coffin, draped with the rebel tricolor flag, as it was carried to Benghazi's cemetery. "Martyrs are God's beloved," the crowd chanted.

At the funeral service, another nephew Mohammad al-Obaidi, called his uncle a martyr and a champion of the uprising against Gadhafi.

Troubles among the rebels — at a time when their forces have failed to make battlefield gains despite nearly four months of NATO airstrikes against Gahdafi's forces — could shake the confidence of the United States, Britain and several dozen other nations that have recognized the rebel council as Libya's legitimate leaders.

The British minister for the Middle East and North Africa, Alistair Burt, said Friday he spoke with the council chief, Abdul-Jalil and welcomed the rebels' announcement of an investigation.

"Exactly what happened remains unclear," Burt said in a statement. "We agreed that it is important that those responsible are held to account through proper judicial processes."

French military spokesman Col. Thierry Burkhard said there was no immediate change in the NATO strategy in the wake of Younis' death and suggested there would not be. He said the NATO campaign was based on a U.N. mandate "and it does not let individual people feature in the game."

But the French street had a more sobering view.

"The Worrying Fragility of the Libyan Opposition" reads the front-page editorial in Friday afternoon's Le Monde, warning that the death "augurs ill for the future."

"We didn't know much about him, except that he was the military chief of the Libyan rebellion. That he was one of the rare ones to have had the experience of power, who had authority, basically that he seemed to be one of those we could count on post-Gadhafi," the editorial read.

It said the council's version of events "is hardly reassuring," and that gives reason "to doubt the capacity of the council to exercise power."

"The French involvement makes us accountable, at least partially, for the behavior of the Council. And implicates us in the future of Libya," it ended.

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