Gaddafi Killed In Gun Battle

Ousted Libyan leader, Col. Muammar Gaddafi has died from injuries he sustained in fighting with soldiers of the Libyan Transitional Council, it was reported this afternoon. The reports came after transitional forces claimed control of Sirte, his birthplace, after weeks of fierce fighting.

The colonel was toppled in August after 42 years in power.

AFP news agency quoted an NTC official, Mohamed Leith, as saying that Col Gaddafi had been captured in Sirte and was “seriously wounded” but still breathing.

But moments later, the head of the NTC army confirmed he was dead. He was captured by one Mohammed al-Bibi, who brandished a golden pistol which he said belonged to Colonel Gaddafi. Al-Bibi was hoisted up onto the shoulders of his comrades. “Allah akbar” (God is great), they chanted as they unleashed volleys into the air. Mohammed, a fighter in his 20s, wearing a New York Yankees baseball cap, said he had found the colonel hiding in a hole in the ground. He told the BBC that the former Libyan leader said to him simply: “Don’t shoot”.

Rebel fighters say the colonel has been taken by ambulance to Misrata.

The killing of Gaddafi and the fall of Sirte, his hometown mark a turning point for Libyan revolution – the point at which it will be hoped, the fighting ends and the political process begins.

Another NTC official, Abdel Majid Mlegta told Reuters the former leader had been shot in the head and killed as he tried to flee.

“There are no Gaddafi forces any more,” Col Yunus al-Abdali told Reuters. “We are now chasing his fighters who are trying to run away.

Interim government forces had faced heavy resistance from snipers in the city and used heavy artillery during its offensive. Thousands of civilians have fled. The NTC has also suffered heavy casualties in the town of Bani Walid, south-east of Tripoli, in recent weeks.

On Monday the NTC said it had captured 90 per cent of the town, including the centre.