Tens of thousands of Libyans mourned slain rebel military chief General Abdel Fatah Yunis on Friday as insurgent fighters pounded forces loyal to Moamer Kadhafi in the west of the country. "The blood of martyrs will not be spilled for nothing," the crowd, which attended the weekly Muslim prayers, chanted as Yunis's coffin was carried away under the nervous gaze of security forces.
Yunis was shot dead by a gang after he was summoned from the front by the National Transitional Council "for questioning over military issues," NTC chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil said late on Thursday. "With all sadness, I inform you of the passing of Abdel Fatah Yunis, the commander-in-chief of our rebel forces," Abdel Jalil said in a statement at a news conference in Benghazi, the rebels' eastern stronghold.
"The person who carried out the assassination was captured," a somber looking Abdel Jalil said without elaborating, moments before armed men stormed the hotel where he was speaking and accused the NTC of the assassination. Yunis's death, and that of two officers with him, left rebels with a leadership crisis on the same that they made fresh advances in the western Nafusa mountain range as part of a pre-Ramadan push to oust Kadhafi.
The United States urged the rebels to stand united and stay focused on ousting Kadhafi and blamed him for creating the conditions that led to the murder. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said: "I think what's important is that they work both diligently and transparently to ensure the unity of the Libyan opposition.
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