Al-Jazeera Video: Obituary: Abdel Fattah Younes

"The death of rebel military commander Abdel Fattah Younis has brought a screeching halt to efforts to organise the makeshift opposition army and risks throwing Benghazi, perhaps the wider effort to oust Gaddafi, into disarray.

Al Jazeera looks at the general's life."

Libyan rebel military leader killed

The death of Abdel Fattah Younes was announced in Benghazi by the head of the National Transitional Council.

Al-jazeera

"The head of the Libyan rebel's armed forces and two of his aides were killed by gunmen Thursday, the head of the rebel leadership said.

The death of Abdel Fattah Younes was announced at a press conference in the de facto rebel capital, Benghazi, by the head of the rebels' National Transitional Council, Mustafa Abdul Jalil. He told reporters that rebel security had arrested the head of the group behind the killing.

Rebel security had arrested Younes and two of his aides early on Thursday from their operations room near the rebels' eastern front. Security officials said at the time that Younes was to be questioned about suspicions his family still had ties to Muammar Gaddafi's regime.[He was Gaddafi's man among the "Rebels" all along; so is Libya's Karzai himself!]

Younes was Gaddafi's interior minister before defecting to the rebels early in the uprising, which began in February.

Abdul Jalil said that Younes had been summoned for questioning regarding "a military matter." He said Younes and his two aides were shot before they arrived for questioning.

Abdel-Jalil called Younes "one of the heroes of the 17th of February revolution," a name marking the date of early protests against Gaddafi's regime.

While he criticised Gaddafi for seeking to break the unity of rebel forces, he did not say directly that Younes' killers were associated with the regime. Instead, he issued a stiff warning about "armed groups" in rebel-held cities, saying they needed to join the fight against Gaddafi or risk being arrested by security forces.

There were reports of gunfire outside the hotel in Benghazi following the press conference....."