Top Libya rebel 'shot by militia'

30 July 2011 Last updated at 11:59 GMT Younes was buried in the rebel capital, Benghazi Libyan rebel commander Gen Abdel Fattah Younes was shot dead by a militia linked to his own side, a rebel minister has said.

Ali Tarhouni said Gen Younes was killed by members of the Obaida Ibn Jarrah Brigade, which is an Islamist group.

Gen Younes defected to the rebels in February after serving in the Libyan leadership since the 1969 coup which brought Col Muammar Gaddafi to power.

Meanwhile Nato says it bombed Libyan state TV transmitters overnight.

The Libyan Broadcasting Authority said three of its technicians were killed and 15 other people injured in the attack in the capital, Tripoli.

The alliance said it had disabled three satellite transmission dishes through a "precision air strike".

It said the operation was intended to stop "inflammatory broadcasts" by Col Gaddafi's government.

Continue reading the main story Ian Pannell, BBC News, Misrata

The more information that comes to light about the murder of Abdel Fattah Younes the more troubling the affair becomes.

According to Ali Tarhouni, a minister with the National Transitional Council, members of the Obaida Ibn Jarrah Brigade, an Islamist group allied with the rebels, killed the general and two other commanders and burned their bodies.

This will feed growing doubts about the armed opposition, about its ability to govern and fight as a cohesive group and about the influence of Islamist factions.

The Libyan government in Tripoli has constantly warned that the rebels are under the influence of al-Qaeda. Although there is no evidence of this, it has called the murder of Gen Younes a "slap in the face" for Britain after it officially recognised the council in Benghazi as the government of Libya.

Nato said the strike would "reduce the regime's ability to oppress civilians" but also "preserve television broadcast infrastructure that will be needed after the conflict".

Libyan state TV was still on air following the Nato statement.

'Slap in the face'

Oil minister Tarhouni told reporters in Benghazi a leader of the militia had provided information on the circumstances of Younes' death.

Mr Tarhouni said Younes and two of his aides were killed after being recalled to the rebel stronghold for questioning.

Younes' shot and burned body, and the bodies of his aides, were found on the edge of Benghazi on Friday.

"His lieutenants did it," Mr Tarhouni said, adding that the killers were still at large, Reuters news agency reported.

The minister did not provide a motive for the killing, which he said was still being investigated.

Col Gaddafi's government said the killing was proof that the rebels were not capable of ruling Libya.

Government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said: "It is a nice slap [in] the face of the British that the [rebel National Transitional] council that they recognised could not protect its own commander of the army."

Continue reading the main story Helped Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi take power in the 1969 coup that ousted King IdrisClose advisor to the Libyan leader for four decades, rising to the post of general and training Col Gaddafi's special forcesAppointed interior ministerQuit the government on 22 February 2011 and defected to the rebels - one of the earliest such moves by a senior officialAppointed as the opposition's military chief in April, but faced mistrust due to his past ties to Col GaddafiMr Ibrahim also said Younes was killed by al-Qaeda, repeating a claim that the group is the strongest force within the rebel movement.

"By this act, al-Qaeda wanted to mark out its presence and its influence in this region," he said.

"The other members of the National Transitional Council knew about it but could not react because they are terrified of al-Qaeda," he added.

Middle East analyst Shashank Joshi said the concern that emerges most sharply from the incident is not so much that the National Transitional Council will splinter before Tripoli falls, but that it might do so afterwards.

The general - Col Gaddafi's former interior minister - joined the rebels at the beginning of the Libyan uprising in February.

The BBC's Ian Pannell in the rebel-held city of Misrata says the death will feed international suspicions that the rebels cannot be trusted.

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Colombia condemns rebel attack

29 June 2011 Last updated at 23:40 GMT Maj Felix Antonio Jaimes Villamil was ambushed as he arrived on the scene Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has condemned as "cowardly" an ambush by left-wing Farc rebels that has killed a senior police officer.

Maj Felix Antonio Jaimes Villamil was killed by an explosive device in north-western Antioquia province.

Police said the explosives were set off as Maj Jaimes arrived to investigate a rebel attack on two buses.

The Colombian authorities say the Farc have stepped up their attacks on civilians and security forces alike.

Police say three people were injured early on Wednesday when members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) burned down two buses and a lorry on the main road linking Colombia's second city, Medellin, with the Atlantic Coast.

Officials said Maj Jaimes, the commander of Antioquia's highway police, travelled to the area to oversee the evacuation of the victims.

Two police agents who were accompanying Maj Jaimes were also injured when the device went off.

President Santos called the ambush "terrorist and cowardly".

"This shows that the Farc are ever more desperate and weak," the president said.

Colombian security forces have killed a number of Farc leaders over the past year, and arrested many others.

The attack happened on the main road from Medellin to the Atlantic Coast, near Yarumal

The group's top military commander Jorge Briceno, better known as Mono Jojoy, was killed in an army bombing raid last September.

And the army says it is getting ever closed to Farc leader Alfonso Cano, whose head of security it killed in March.

But the rebels also have been stepping up their attacks on both civilian and military targets.

The Colombian hauliers' union has asked the government to increase security on the country's highways.

They said the attack was the ninth so far this year in Antioquia, with some 40 vehicles burned by the guerrilla nationwide.

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Top Libya rebel holds China talks

21 June 2011 Last updated at 05:46 GMT China has tried to distance itself from the military actions in Libya The top foreign affairs official in Libya's opposition has arrived in China for talks with the Beijing government.

Mahmud Jibril is expected to discuss bringing to an end the crisis in Libya, where China has oil interests.

Beijing follows what it calls a policy of non-interference and neutrality in the domestic affairs of other nations.

It abstained in the United Nations Security Council vote which led to the Nato military campaign and has since criticised air strikes.

It has also not joined in calls for the Libyan leader, Col Muammar Gaddafi, to resign.

However, the BBC's Beijing correspondent Martin Patience says Mr Jibril's visit will be seen as another blow to Col Gaddafi's rule.

Beijing has recently been stepping up efforts to persuade the two sides to reach a political agreement.

Chinese officials have already held two meetings with the head of the National Transitional Council, Mustapha Abdul-Jalil, the rebels' umbrella organisation.

The Libyan Foreign Minister, Abdelati al-Obeidi, also spent three days in Beijing earlier this month, with China saying a ceasefire should be the "top priority" of both sides.

Beijing may be asked to consider giving financial assistance to the rebels; Italy, France, Kuwait and Qatar have pledged money so far.

Mr Jibril is scheduled to stay in China for two days.

China has oil interests in the north African state and evacuated 30,000 of its workers at the start of the conflict in February.

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