Tripoli, July 30 (ANI): Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's regime has claimed that the Al Qaeda is responsible for the killing of the Libyan rebels' military chief Abdel Fatah Younes.
Sky News quoted a government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim as saying that the terror network shot dead the general to "mark out its presence and influence" in the east of the country, where the opposition has its power base.
Ibrahim also said that other members of the rebel government, the National Transition Council (NTC), knew about the killing of Gen Younes, "but could not react because they are terrified of al Qaeda".He added that the killing was proof that the NTC had no power in Benghazi, which is considered the rebels' stronghold.
General Younes, who had served as Libyan interior minister, defected to the rebels early in the conflict.
A three-day mourning was planned for Younes in the rebels' stronghold of Benghazi.
The death was announced as the rebel forces launched a broader assault on government forces Thursday, seizing three small towns in western Libya while advancing toward the town of Badr and two other areas.
Meanwhile, the NTC has said that it is investigating the atrocity, adding that General Younes was shot as he headed to Benghazi, where he had been summoned to discuss "a military matter". (ANI)
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