Libyan rebels say military chief killed

BENGHAZI/NALUT: Libya's rebels said their military commander was shot dead in an incident that was shrouded in mystery, pointing either to factional infighting within the movement trying to oust Muammar Gaddafi or to an assassination by Gaddafi loyalists.

The killing of Abdel Fattah Younes, who for years was in Gaddafi's inner circle before defecting to become the military chief in the rebel Transitional National Council (TNC), set back a movement that was at last beginning to acquire cohesion as international pressure on the Gaddafi regime intensifies.

Mourners brought a coffin carrying the burned and bullet-riddled body of Younes into the main square of Benghazi, the rebels' eastern stronghold, on Friday, his nephew told Reuters.

"We got the body yesterday here (in Benghazi), he had been shot with bullets and burned," Younes's nephew, Abdul Hakim, said as he followed the coffin through the square. "He had called us at 10 o'clock (on Thursday morning) to say he was on his way here."

After a day of rumors on Thursday, rebel political leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil said Younes and two bodyguards had been killed before he could make a requested appearance before a rebel judicial committee investigating military issues.

Jalil gave no further details. The subject of the hearing to which Younes was summoned was not immediately known. (Reuters)