Post date: Oct 20, 2011 12:25:47 PM
Libyan forces celebrate the capture of Muammar Gaddafi's home town of Sirte, with conflicting reports that the deposed former leader had been killed or captured alive. One fighter also tells Reuters that they have one of Gaddafi's son surrounded.
SIRTE, LIBYA (OCTOBER 20, 2011) REUTERS - Former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi died of wounds suffered on Thursday as fighters battling to complete an eight-month-old uprising against his rule overran his hometown Sirte, Libya's interim rulers said.
His killing, which came swiftly after his capture near Sirte, is the most dramatic single development in the Arab Spring revolts that have unseated rulers in Egypt and Tunisia and threatened the grip on power of the leaders of Syria and Yemen.National Transitional Council official Abdel Majid Mlegta told Reuters that Gaddafi had died, though there was no independent confirmation of his remarks.
Speaking amid burst of celebratory gunfire, one fighter confirmed Sirte's capture and said one of Gaddafi's sons was also surrounded.
"Sirte has now been fully liberated. The regime's men have dispersed. It's possible that al-Mutassim (one of Muammar Gaddafi's sons) or another of the regime's men is now surrounded inside. A few moments ago they told us through the radio device that they might have al-Mutassem surrounded. I say congratulations not only to Libya but also to the entire Arab and Muslim world, congratulations to the whole world," said one fighter amid the celebrations.
Muammar Gaddafi's capture followed within minutes of the fall of Sirte, a development that extinguished the last significant resistance by forces loyal to the deposed leader.
The capture of Sirte and the death of Gaddafi means Libya's ruling NTC should now begin the task of forging a new democratic system which it had said it would get under way after the city, built as a showpiece for Gaddafi's rule, had fallen.