The military leader of Libyan rebels, Abdel Fattah Younes, was killed on Thursday, the head of the National Transitional Council (NTC) said.

The military leader of Libyan rebels, Abdel Fattah Younes, was killed on Thursday, the head of the National Transitional Council (NTC) said.

At a press conference in the de facto rebel capital, Benghazi, Mustafa Abdul Jalil announced that Younes was shot dead.
The NTC head said that two aids to Younes, Muhammad Khamis and Nasir al-Madhkur, were also killed in the attack, adding that there would be three days of mourning in their honor.

Abdul 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 said Gaddafi was seeking to break the unity of rebel forces but issued a stiff warning about unaffiliated "armed groups" in rebel-held cities, saying they needed to join the fight against Gaddafi or risk being arrested by security forces.

The NTC head said that Younes was summoned for questioning about military operations, but added they were assassinated before they arrived for questioning.

Reports said Younes was to be questioned for suspicion he and his family still had ties to embattled leader Muammar Gaddafi’s regime.
However, the exact circumstances of the killings were unclear, and Abdul Jalil did not say directly that the assailants were allied with Col Gaddafi.

Younes was Gaddafi's interior minister before defecting to the rebels early in the uprising, which began in February. He was also part of the group that helped bring Col Gaddafi to power in 1969.

Shortly after the announcement of Younes' death, gunmen entered the grounds of the hotel in the eastern city of Benghazi where Abdul Jalil was speaking, reportedly firing into the air before being convinced to leave.