ActionScript 2.0 :: Unable To Remove Attached MovieClip?

I have a mc in the library, linkage is "del". Here is the code I use to attach to the movie
Code:
delbt.onPress = function () {
if (typeof(_root.del) == undefined) {
_root.attachMovie ("dele", "del", _root.getNextHighestDepth ());
_root['del']._x = 100;
_root['del']._y = 100;
[Code] .....

This works fine to a point. In the "del" mc I have a button to remove "del" mc if no longer required.
Code:
on (release) {
unloadMovie(_root.del)
}

I discovered that this only remove the content and not the mc that holds it "del". So I tried
Code:
on (release) {
_root.del.removeMovieClip ();
}
But this does nothing.