General Abdel Fatah Younis, Libyan rebel commander, killed

Man with many enemies dies under mysterious circumstances...

Reuters - Libyan rebel military chief recalled from front: sources:

Libyan rebel officials have recalled Abdel Fattah Younes, who is leading the rebels' military campaign against Muammar Gaddafi, from the front line, rebel sources said on Thursday....

A senior member of the rebel National Transitional Council confirmed Younes was in Benghazi but said he had returned from the front line unhappy with the situation on the ground, and officials were trying to persuade him to return.

Younes' home in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi was strongly guarded by soldiers who had blocked the street and were not letting anyone in, a Reuters witness said.

Al Jazeera - Libya opposition arrests senior leader:

General Abdel Fatah Younis, the chief of staff of the rebel forces in Libya, has been arrested by the National Transition Council.

He is being held at an undisclosed military garrison in Benghazi.

A rebel source said Younis was recalled from Brega early on Thursday, but could not say why.

Reuters news agency said a senior member of the NTC confirmed Younes was in Benghazi but said he had returned from the front line unhappy with the situation on the ground, and officials were trying to persuade him to return.

Al Jazeera's Tony Birtley, reporting from Benghazi, quoted unconfirmed reports as saying Libya's former minister of interior was arrested for dealing with and smuggling arms to Gaddafi loyalists...

Today, we learned that Major General Abdel Fattah Younes Faraj his two companions were shot by gunmen after he was summoned to appear before a judicial committee to investigate military affairs. But the deceased did not appear before this committee, because of the procedures that happened to him, which are under investigation.

The head of the armed group, one of them that actually carried out the assassination, was arrested.

Based on the foregoing, the National Council declares the following:

First, we will hold a three-day mourning period for our martyrs.

Second, we will intensify efforts to find those criminals and the bodies of the martyrs.

Third, this is a final warning to the individuals who are armed inside the cities, we will not allow armed militias within the city limits. They have one of two choices: They have to join the front, or they have to join the national security forces inside the cities.

All efforts will be taken to arrest any individual who is bearing arms within the city limits.

I wish to extend condolences to friends and colleagues and to all of you because of the death of General Abdel Fatah Younes and Colonel Khamis and Major Nasser.

And condolences to all the Libyans and all the tribes, especially the tribe of Obeidat that have paid heavily with more than 40 martyrs and in excess of 500 injured at the front.

We urge everyone to unify and we urge everyone to refrain from paying attention to any of these rumours and activities that the Gaddafi regime wishes to initiate within our ranks.

I ask the Obeidat tribe for its understanding of the situation, and all the other tribes that are here to support the Obeidat tribe and suppot everyone after these accidents, and to remember that ending the regime of Muammar Gaddafi is our foremost objective.

It's our goal and there is no going back. These events will not turn the Obeidat tribe away from the revolution. Relatives of the dead, relatives of the martyrs and some of these tribes are here and we all ask the Allah the almighty to give his mercy upon all of them.

A tumultuous day for the Libyan rebels culminated with the announcement that Gen. Abdel Fateh Younis, the chief of staff of the Libyan Transitional Council's (TNC) armed forces, has been assassinated.

Rumors had been swirling on Thursday, July 28, that Younis -- once a high-ranking military officer and Libya's interior minister -- had been arrested by the rebel leadership for colluding with Muammar al-Qaddafi, and was being held in a military installation in the rebel capital of Benghazi....

Earlier today, Reuters reported that Libyan rebel general Abdel Fattah Younis had been pulled from the front line of the conflict. Now it's been confirmed that Younis has been shot dead, possibly by his own forces... Today's news started with a report at 1:53 p.m. EDT, that Younis had left the active fighting and was at his home in Benghazi.... Two hours after the initial Reuters report, Al Jazeera had the news that Younis had been arrested for smuggling arms to Gaddafi loyalists. ... Some of his men have come back from the front line demanding his release. This is an ugly situation in the making.... Reuters quoted Jalil, who spoke at a press conference: "We received news today that ... Younes and two of his bodyguards were shot at after he was called in to appear before a judicial committee investigating military issues."

That Abdel Fateh Younes, the longtime enforcer for Muammar Qaddafi whose stunning defection to the Libyan rebellion in February was an early indication of the depth of the challenge to Qaddafi's regime, is dead, you can take to the bank. General Younes had been head of the embryonic rebel army from practically the moment he'd switched sides.

As far as the rest of the story - who killed him, when, precisely where, and why - all remains murk and conjecture...

In March, Younes was locked in a cold war of sorts with Gen. Khalifa Hefter, who defected from the Qaddafi regime more than 20 years ago and has lived for most of the time since then in Virginia.

After Hefter returned home in March, he declared himself - with the clear backing of at least some of the rebel leadership - the new head of the rebel military. Weeks were spent jockeying for position, with whispers on one side about Younes's Qaddafi ties, and whispers on the other that Hefter was a CIA asset and not to be trusted as a longtime exile. Younes ended up winning that round and Hefter has been largely behind the scenes since....

Shortly after Jalil's announcement, an agitated group of gunmen arrived at the hotel where he'd spoken, firing small arms and an anti-aircraft gun into the sky, escalating tension in the city. Witnesses said they appeared to hold the TNC responsible for Younes's death.

Several theories about Younes's death were circulating among the Libyan community and observers on Thursday night.

Gaddafi had placed a multi-million dollar bounty on Younes's head after his defection, which could have been reason alone for the assassination.

Then there was the possibility that he had been involved in a confrontation with rebel officials after being recalled from the front lines by the NTC for investigation. Some believed he had been shot after tensions flared at a meeting between the two sides, though Jalil's claim that Younes had been killed after being released from an interrogation seemed to belie that.

Finally, some believed, it was possible that Younes had been targeted for assassination by a rival, perhaps even Hifter. There was no proof to support the accusation, but it reflected a fear among Libyans in the opposition that political machinations had gotten dangerously out of control.

...Younes was never enthusiastically embraced by Libyans in the east, and that made him vulnerable to a challenge.

Hifter, despite having left for exile in 1987, was warmly welcomed when he returned in March.

Hifter had led troops during Libya's war with Chad in the 1980s, after which he switched sides to join the long-simmering anti-Gaddafi movement. Hifter settled in the United States, in Virginia, five miles from the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency.

...Younes's home was under heavy armed guard on Thursday evening, and some Libyan activists expressed fear that his tribe, the Obeidat, would seek retribution for his killing.

New York Times - Death of Rebel Leader Stirs Fears of Tribal Conflict:

The leader of the rebels' provisional government, Mustapha Abdul Jalil, announced Thursday evening without providing details that unnamed assassins had killed the commander, Gen. Abdul Fattah Younes, and two other officers.

General Younes... had been summoned to Benghazi for questioning by a panel of judges, and members of his tribe -- the Obeidi, one of the largest in the east -- evidently blamed the rebel leadership for having some role in the general's death...

[Jalil] left the news conference without taking questions.

Moments later, a pickup truck full of angry armed Obeidi tribesmen arrived at the front of the hotel. Some fired their Kalashnikovs at hotel windows, shattering them, and others shot into the air. One man raced with his rifle through the front door of the hotel, and two witnesses said they heard gunshots inside. Security guards and hotel guests crouched behind concrete in front of the hotel for cover.

Other tribesmen chased down and tackled a journalist trying to leave the hotel. Shouting matches broke out between the men and the rebels guarding the hotel, and then between the rebel fighters themselves. Two more trucks raced by the hotel firing in the air, one pointing a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, before rebel authorities anxiously sealed the hotel and the block.

"We have been expecting this," a security guard said as he hustled a group of journalists into the hotel for safety. "They are the largest tribe. They control most of the east."

Rebels control most of eastern Libya from their base in Benghazi and the western port city of Misrata, while Col Gaddafi retains much of the west, including the capital, Tripoli.

Late on Thursday AFP news agency reported explosions shaking the centre of Tripoli, as state TV reported that planes were flying over the Libyan capital.

Nato, acting under a UN mandate authorising military action for the protection of civilians, has carried out regular airstrikes in the Tripoli area.

Meanwhile, the South African ambassador to the UN, Baso Sangqu, warned that supporters of the rebels were in danger of violating UN sanctions.

His comments came a day after Britain granted the rebels diplomatic recognition and said it would unblock £91 million ($149m) in frozen Libyan oil assets for the rebels.

"We have noted the calls for Gaddafi must go," Mr Sangqu said. "We maintain that such statements do not bring us any closer to a political solution."

The BBC's Barbara Plett reports from the UN that the growing trend to grant diplomatic recognition to the Libyan rebels is facing opposition on the Security Council, and that moves to back the rebels will further polarise Council members.

An earlier post on Hefter and Younes here.

War is dangerous business, I always thought the odds were long that both these men would survive this conflict. I suspect Younes' fate will be one of those unsolved mysteries... with a very blurry line between sober analysis and crazy conspiracy theory talk.

Update - Reuters: Slain Libyan chief's family vow allegiance to rebels:

"A message to Mustafa Abdel Jalil: We will walk with you all the way," his nephew Mohammed Younes told a crowd of mourners in the main square of the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.

"Libya first, until God gives us victory or chooses us as martyrs."

Other family members were beside him.

By Friday, however, it appeared that the bodies had been found and returned to their relatives. Thousands of people gathered in Benghazi's central courthouse square - renamed Tahrir Square by the opposition - to observe Friday prayers and mourn Younes.

They carried coffins apparently carrying the bodies through the square.

Abdul Hakim, a nephew of Younes, told the Reuters news agency that Younes's body had been returned to his family on Thursday, burned and bearing bullet wounds.

And (update) confirmed: Killers of Libyan Rebel General Were Among His Own Forces