- Title: LIBYA: Fierce fighting in Zlitan as rebels consider Younes a "martyr"
- Date: 30th July 2011
- Summary: NEAR ZLITAN, LIBYA (JULY 29, 2011) (REUTERS) LIBYAN REBEL POSITIONS REBEL PREPARING RECOILLESS GUN FRONT LINE REBEL FIGHTERS NEXT TO VEHICLE WITH RECOILLESS GUN REBEL FIGHTER HANDLING ROCKET-LIKE ROUND REBEL FIGHTER MANNING MACHINE GUN POSITION RECOILLESS GUN BEING FIRED REBEL FIGHTER LOOKING THROUGH BINOCULARS VEHICLE WITH RECOILLESS GUN LEAVING POSITION
- Embargoed: 14th August 2011 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Libya
- Country: Libya
- Topics: Conflict
- Reuters ID: LVA1P5UIM9CKZG2BCD1Z71P10DNY
- Story Text: At least one rebel was killed and seven wounded when heavy fighting broke out on Friday (July 29) at the frontline just outside the Libyan town of Zlitan. Rebels, who had just learnt of the assassination of their overall commander, bombarded positions of troops supporting leader Muammar Gaddafi with mortars and rockets outside the town, just 160 kilometres (100 miles) away from Gaddafi's stronghold of Tripoli.
Abdel Fattah Younes, a former interior minister and ally of Gaddafi, was killed in or near the eastern city of Benghazi on Thursday (July 28) months after turning against Gaddafi.
Rebels on the frontline said they mourned his death and considered him a "martyr" but voiced confidence that his absence would not hinder the fight against Gaddafi's 41-year rule.
"Our martyr, the major-general Abdul-Fattah Younes, is like any other person who is fighting on the front. Of course, we were sad (to hear of his killing) and we hope that it will be an extra motive for us in the fight against the tyrant. We count him as a martyr," said Khaled al-Uwayyib, a fighter in a rebel base preparing to go out to battle.
Abdul-Hakim Mohammed, another rebel fighter, echoed Uwayyib's thoughts.
"May God accept Major-General Abdul-Fattah and accept him as a martyr. He is someone who stood with the revolutionaries and may God bless him. I don't think a revolutionary could commit this, it's certainly the brigades of the tyrant and his followers."
Younes was not trusted by all of the rebel leadership given his previous role in cracking down on anti-Gaddafi dissidents.
But his death is likely to be a severe blow to a movement that has won the backing of some 30 nations but is labouring to make progress on the battlefield.
Libya's rebel military commander was shot dead in an incident that remained shrouded in mystery.
Some Libyan rebels suspect he may have been a spy who was killed by a Gaddafi opponent, but the rebel council and its affiliated news channels have declared Younes a martyr and blame his killing on underground cells loyal to Gaddafi operating in rebel territory.
Rebels said Younes, long in the veteran Libyan leader's inner circle before defecting in February, was shot by assailants on Thursday after he had been summoned from the battlefield for unspecified talks.
Some analysts thought Gaddafi agents may have killed him, others that his own side had done so, revealing deep divisions between Gaddafi defectors and those who never worked with him.
The rebels did not say who killed Younes or where, and said on Thursday they did not yet have his body.
But on Friday, weeping relatives and supporters brought his coffin into the main square of the rebel stronghold of Benghazi to mourn him, and vowed allegiance to remaining rebel leaders.
Officials would not give details of why Younes was recalled on Thursday to Benghazi from the front line near the oil port of Brega for questioning.
Rumours had circulated in Benghazi that he had held secret talks with the Gaddafi government. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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