Gaddafi ‘shot dead’ as he tries to flee from rebels in his home town

OUSTED Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi was killed today as rebel troops took control of his hometown of Sirte, according to senior members of the country’s National Transitional Council government.

Gaddafi had been hunted for two months since the fall of capital Tripoli on August 23 and his apparent death brings a definitive end to the revolution which began with street protests in February and was supported by airstrikes by Britain and other Nato states.

Officials of the National Transitional Council suggested Gaddafi died after being shot in the head and legs while trying to flee Sirte in a convoy which was targeted by Nato warplanes.

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NTC vice-chairman Abdul Hafiz Ghoga told a news conference in Benghazi: “We announce to the world that Muammar Gaddafi has been killed at the hands of the revolutionaries. We will announce the liberation of Libya within hours, maybe sooner.”

Amid confusion on the ground, it was initially reported that Gaddafi had been wounded and taken into custody.

And there were also reports that the man who ruled Libya for 42 years may have been found cowering in a concrete pipe, begging not to be shot when he was found.

Gruesome images of a blood-stained man who resembled Gaddafi being dragged through the streets of Sirte were shown on Libyan television, but there was no official confirmation that they depicted the dictator’s last moments.

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Libyan TV reported that Gaddafi’s body has been moved to the town of Misrata, scene of some of the fiercest fighting earlier in the rebellion which ousted him from power.

The NTC government’s information minister Mahmoud Shammam said he expects prime minister Mustafa Abdel Jalil to confirm Gaddafi’s death soon.

Libyan TV said Mr Jalil will address the nation in a broadcast this afternoon.

Mr Shammam said he had been told the dictator was dead by fighters who claimed to have seen the body.

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The Foreign Office was seeking information from sources on the ground, but would make no comment until Gaddafi’s fate was officially confirmed.

Prime Minister David Cameron cut short a Westminster lunch to return to 10 Downing Street, where he was being kept abreast of developments in Libya.

The Ministry of Defence in London confirmed that Nato warplanes this morning attacked a convoy of vehicles fleeing Sirte.

It is not known whether Gaddafi was in any of vehicles.

“It was targeted on the basis that this was the last of the pro-Gaddafi forces fleeing Sirte,” a spokesman said.

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RAF fighters were not involved in the attack, although RAF reconnaissance aircraft were in the area.

There were scenes of wild jubilation in Sirte, which had been under siege for the past two months, as final pockets of Gaddafi loyalists held out against the NTC forces.

The end came this morning in a couple of hours of fierce gun battles believed to have left many Gaddafi fighters dead, possibly including the head of the former regime’s armed forces, Abu Bakr Younus Jabr.

Former government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim is reported to have been captured, while Gaddafi’s son and anointed heir Saif is thought to be at large in the desert having fled Sirte.

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NTC spokesman Abdullah Berrassali told Sky News: “Gaddafi is dead, absolutely dead. He was shot in both legs and in the head.

“It looks like Gaddafi and his close aides tried to flee. The freedom fighters tried to apprehend them but it looks like from the reports, which are not 100% confirmed, that as a result of the exchange of fire maybe Gaddafi was badly injured.

“I have always said that the priority would be to take Gaddafi alive and put him on a fair, just trial ... but if he resisted arrest there was a great likelihood he would be killed.”

In London, International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell Mitchell said Gaddafi’s capture or death would mean freedom becoming a reality in Libya.

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He said Mr Cameron had been “the key person in ensuring a new dawn” in Libya.

Mr Mitchell told ITV News: “It’s not yet clear precisely what has happened but if Gaddafi has been either captured or died in fighting, that means that the freedom and the future for which Libyans have been fighting all across Libya will now be a reality.”

He hailed Mr Cameron’s role in supporting the Libyan uprising: “He bravely took the decision that Britain should intervene, he led the international community ensuring that international action was galvanised around stopping the threatened massacre, particularly in Benghazi, and Britain has played a leading role.

“Our armed forces have been in action in supporting that United Nations resolution that Britain managed to secure at the UN.

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“I think our Prime Minister has been the key person in ensuring a new dawn can now break in Libya and the Libyan people can decide their own destiny in a free way that has not been available to them for more than 40 years.”

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