Home
Discover Islam
Quran Recitations
Lectures
Fatwa
Articles
Fiqh
E-Books
Women
Boys & Girls 
Articles
The head of the Libyan revolution's armed forces and two of his aides were killed by gunmen on Thursday, the head of the revolution leadership said.
The death of Abdel Fattah Younes was announced at a press conference in Benghazi, by the head of the revolution's National Transitional Council, Mustafa Abdul Jalil. He told reporters that revolution security had arrested the head of the group behind the killing but had not found the dead men's bodies.
Revolution security had arrested Younes and his aides early on Thursday from their operations room near the revolution forces' 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.
Younes was Gaddafi's interior minister before defecting to the revolution early in the uprising, which began in February.
Questions over killing
Jalil said that Younes had been summoned for questioning regarding "a military matter". He said Younes and his two aides, a colonel and a major, were shot before they arrived for questioning.
Al Jazeera's Tony Birtley, reporting from Benghazi, said that the body had not been handed over yet.
"One of the assailants was captured. [The groups] were described as pro-Gaddafi units."
"Now there is a hunt going in Benghazi to find those people," he said.
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.
He did not say Gaddafi's forces were directly responsible for Younes's killing but said Gaddafi was seeking to break the unity of revolution forces. He also issued a stiff warning about unaffiliated "armed groups" in revolution-held cities, saying they needed to join the fight against Gaddafi or risk being arrested by security forces.
"A man who was a target"
After Jalil finished his remarks, without taking questions, there were reports of fighting and gunfire in and around the Tibesti Hotel, where the press conference was held.
A witness told the AFP news agency that supporters of Younes grouped outside the Tibesti, fired their weapons in the air and attempted to enter the hotel, where they were confronted by NTC security.
Some of the men shouted, "You killed him," in reference to the NTC.
"[Younes] is a man who was a target," Birtley said. "It is a question of who was he targeted by: Pro-Gaddafi loyalists or people on the opposition side who didn't actually like his politics because there were questions about where his loyalties truly lay."
"This was a man who was the interior minister for Gaddafi. He was a friend and personal friend for 40 years and that friendship shone through."
"When I [interviewed] him he said he changed sides because the Gaddafi he knew was not the Gaddafi that was leading the country any longer."
Within an hour, at least three loud explosions shook the centre of the Libyan capital Tripoli. Two explosions were heard at 10:20pm local time, followed by another blast several minutes later, as Libyan television reported that planes were flying overhead.
Tripoli has been the target of numerous NATO air raids.
Revolution’s offensive
Meanwhile, Libyan revolution fighters in the western mountains have launched attacks on several government-controlled towns, hoping to push out loyalist troops and open a route to the border.
The attacks began around dawn as revolution forces descended from around the towns of Nalut and Jadu in an attempt to expel forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi from the Nafusa mountain foothills.
By midday local time, revolution forces had taken and lost the town of al-Jawsh and reached the outskirts of Ghazaya, a significant base for Gaddafi's troops near the Tunisian border.
Four revolution forces were killed and 10 injured, while 18 loyalist troops were captured, according to opposition sources.
Al Jazeera's James Bays, who approached al-Jawsh with the revolution forces advance, said fighters initially took the town and moved on but were caught by a surprise counterattack.
Despite hitting al-Jawsh with artillery fire and attempting to clear out Gaddafi's troops, some regime forces apparently remained in town, while others fired Grad rockets after the revolution forces entered.
Farther west, Ghazaya had been bombard by revolution tanks and "long-range guns" throughout Wednesday night in preparation for the attack, an opposition source said.
The fight for Ghazaya continued into Thursday afternoon, and revolution forces claimed to have seized the nearby town of Takut.
An opposition spokesman in Jadu claimed they had taken Ghazaya, but that claim was not confirmed by other sources.
Hundreds of trucks carrying hundreds of fighters were involved in the operation at al-Jawsh, Bays said.
It appeared to be the largest attack by opposition fighters in the Nafusa Mountains since the conflict began.
PHOTO CAPTION
Head of the opposition forces Abdel Fattah Younes gestures as he arrives at Green Square in the Kish, Benghazi July 6, 2011, to demonstrate against Muammar Gaddafi and his regime.
Al-Jazeera
