Libyan rebel commander buried amid questions
- 12 years ago
Hundreds of mourners chanting and firing guns into the air turned out to Benghazi's al-Hawari cemetary to bury Abdel Fatah Younes on Friday. The commander of the rebel armed forces in Libya was killed on Thursday after being summoned to appear before a judicial inquiry in the opposition capital.
Rumours and theories are flying over Younes's death. Ali Tarhouni, the opposition oil minister, has said that rebel fighters sent to bring Younes back from the front for the inquiry took justice into their own hands and gunned him and two aides down.
Some suspect the gunmen were religious extremists who had grievances against Younes for his decades-long role as Muammar Gaddafi's interior minister, during which he played a role in repressing conservative, anti-goverment Islamic groups.
But as members of the community gathered to pay their respects to Younes's family, the exact motivations of his killers remained unclear.
Al Jazeera's Tony Birtley reports from Benghazi.
Rumours and theories are flying over Younes's death. Ali Tarhouni, the opposition oil minister, has said that rebel fighters sent to bring Younes back from the front for the inquiry took justice into their own hands and gunned him and two aides down.
Some suspect the gunmen were religious extremists who had grievances against Younes for his decades-long role as Muammar Gaddafi's interior minister, during which he played a role in repressing conservative, anti-goverment Islamic groups.
But as members of the community gathered to pay their respects to Younes's family, the exact motivations of his killers remained unclear.
Al Jazeera's Tony Birtley reports from Benghazi.