Libyan rebels have said the people who killed their commander were fighters with them in the fight to oust Muammar Gaddafi, raising questions about divisions and lawlessness within the rebel ranks.
The killing of Abdel Fattah Younis, apparently by his own men, has undermined the opposition at a time when he is gaining wider international recognition and launching an offensive against Gaddafi's forces in the west of the country, according to Reuters.
After the 24-hour confusion, rebel minister Ali Tarhuni said that Yunis was killed by fighters who went to bring him from the front and that his bullet-riddled and partially burned body was found on a ranch near the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.
Tarhuni announced that a militia chief was arrested, who admitted that his subordinates had committed the murder.
"He didn't do that. That was done by his subordinates," Tarhuni told reporters, adding that the killers are on the run.
Younis has been part of Gaddafi's inner circle since the Libyan colonel came to power in a 1969 coup, and served as interior minister before defecting to the rebels in February.
Many of the rebels were uncomfortable being under the command of a man who had been so close to Gaddafi for 41 years, and rebel sources said that on Thursday, Younis had been summoned because of suspicions that he or members of his family were in secret contact with Gaddafi.
The rebels are divided over who killed Yunis. Some suspect his execution for treason was ordered by rebel leaders, many believe he was killed by Gaddafi supporters who had infiltrated the rebels, and some suggest a rogue rebel group acted alone.
Whatever the truth, the killing has deepened concerns among Western backers of the rebels, who hope they will win the five-month civil war but are frustrated by their disunity and nervous about Islamist influence.
The United States, which along with some 30 other countries officially recognized the opposition, called for solidarity.
"It is important that they work diligently and transparently in order to ensure the unity of the Libyan opposition," State Department spokesman Mark Toner told Reuters yesterday in Washington.
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