Six suspects, including a former deputy prime minister of the ruling National Transitional Council (NTC), were involved in the assassination of NTC top general Abdel Fattah Younes, prosecutors said Monday.

Younes, the security head of the former Gaddafi regime, defected to the NTC on Feb. 22 and became its military chief. He was killed on July 28.

Prosecutors said Ali El-Essawi, who had served as the NTC's interim deputy prime minister until he stepped down earlier this year, was the chief suspect in the death of Younes.

Essawi denies the allegations. Talking to local Libya Awalen TV via phone, he said "I never signed any decision related to Abdel Fattah Younes, everybody in Libya wants the truth."

Reports said Younes was killed after NTC leaders summoned him back from the front line to Benghazi, the council's power base at the time.

Younes was from Lybia's powerful Obaidi tribe that has some 90 clans and a population of some 400,000. The tribe has been demanding a thorough investigation into his death.