MISRATA, Libya (AP) — A Misrata military council official said Moammar Gadhafi, his son Muatassim and a top aide were buried at dawn Tuesday in a secret location, with a few relatives and officials in attendance.
In a text message shown to The Associated Press, spokesman Ibrahim Beitalmal said Islamic prayers were read over the bodies. The information could not be independently verified.
In this image made from amateur video provided by the Libya Youth Movement and filmed on Thursday, Oct. 20, 2011, an injured Moammar Gadhafi is surrounded by Libyan fighters in Sirte, Libya. There are international calls, led by the U.S. and Britain, for an investigation of whether Libyan fighters killed a wounded Gadhafi after pulling him out of a drainage pipe in his hometown of Sirte last week. Gadhafi's body has been on display for public viewing in Misrata since Friday. Libya's former ruler was laid out on a mattress in a refrigerated produce locker in a shopping mall in Misrata, and long lines of people have formed to get a glance at the deposed dictator. In declaring Libya's declaration Sunday, interim leader Abdul-Jalil did not mention the circumstances of Gadhafi's death, but urged his people to eschew hatred. (AP Photo/Libya Youth Movement via APTN)
The bodies of Gadhafi, his son Muatassim and former Defense Minister Abu Bakr Younis had been held in cold storage in the port city of Misrata since the dictator and members of his entourage were captured near his hometown of Sirte on Thursday. Gadhafi and Muatassim were captured alive, with some injuries, but died in unclear circumstances later that day.
Libya's interim leaders have promised an investigation, responding to mounting international pressure.
On Monday, Beitalmal had said the three would be buried in unmarked graves in a secret location to prevent vandalism. Presumably, the graves would also be kept hidden to avoid turning them into shrines for Gadhafi loyalists.
International organizations asking to see the burial site would be given access, Beitalmal said.
Over the weekend, Libya's chief pathologist, Dr. Othman el-Zentani performed autopsies on the three bodies and also took DNA samples to confirm their identities. El-Zentani has said Gadhafi died from a shot to the head, and said the full report would be released later this week, after he presents his findings to the attorney general.
It remains unclear when exactly Gadhafi suffered the fatal injury — before he was taken into custody or after he had been captured by revolutionary fighters.
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Some believe it is about protecting civilians, others say it is about oil, but some are convinced intervention in Libya is all about Gaddafi's plan to introduce the gold dinar, a single African currency made from gold, a true sharing of the wealth.
"It's one of these things that you have to plan almost in secret, because as soon as you say you're going to change over from the dollar to something else, you're going to be targeted," says Ministry of Peace founder Dr James Thring. "There were two conferences on this, in 1986 and 2000, organized by Gaddafi. Everybody was interested, most countries in Africa were keen."
TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Mounting calls for an investigation into whether Moammar Gadhafi was executed in custody overshadowed plans by Libya's new rulers Sunday to declare liberation and a formal end to the eight-month civil war that toppled the longtime dictator.
A man reacts while viewing the bodies of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, background, his ex-defense minister Abu Bakr Younis and his son, Muatassim Gadhafi, foreground, in a commercial freezer at a shopping center in Misrata, Libya, Saturday, Oct. 22, 2011. Libya's new leaders will declare liberation on Sunday, officials said, a move that will start the clock for elections after months of bloodshed that culminated in the death of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi. (AP Photo/David Sperry)
An autopsy confirmed that Gadhafi died from a gunshot to the head, Libya's chief pathologist, Dr. Othman al-Zintani, said hours before the liberation declaration was to start the clock on a transition to democracy.
However, the pathologist said he would not disclose further details or elaborate on Gadhafi's final moments, saying he would first deliver a full report to the attorney general. Libya's acting prime minister said he would not oppose an investigation, but cited an official reporting saying a wounded Gadhafi was killed in cross-fire following his capture.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Britain's new defense secretary, Philip Hammond, said a full investigation is necessary.
The Libyan revolutionaries' image had been "a little bit stained" by Gadhafi's death, Hammond said Sunday, adding that the new government "will want to get to the bottom of it in a way that rebuilds and cleanses that reputation."
"It's certainly not the way we do things," Hammond told BBC television. "We would have liked to see Col. Gadhafi going on trial to answer for his misdeeds."
Clinton told NBC's "Meet the Press" that she backs a proposal that the United Nations investigate Gadhafi's death and that Libya's National Transitional Council look into the circumstances, too.
The 69-year-old Gadhafi was captured wounded, but alive Thursday in his hometown of Sirte, the last city to fall to revolutionary forces. Bloody images of Gadhafi being taunted and beaten by his captors have raised questions about whether he was killed in crossfire as suggested by government officials or deliberately executed.
Gadhafi's body has been on public display in a commercial freezer in a shopping center in the port city of Misrata, which suffered from a bloody siege by regime forces that instilled a virulent hatred for the dictator in Misrata's residents. People have lined up for days to view the body, which was laid out on a mattress on the freezer floor. The bodies of Gadhafi's son Muatassim and his ex-defense minister Abu Bakr Younis also were put on display, and people wearing surgical masks have filed past, snapping photos of the bodies.
The New York-based group Human Rights Watch, which viewed the bodies, said video footage, photos and other information it obtained "indicate that they might have been executed after being detained."
"Finding out how they died matters," said Sarah Leah Whitson of Human Rights Watch. "It will set the tone for whether the new Libya will be ruled by law or by summary violence."
The Syrian-based Al-Rai TV station, which has served as a mouthpiece for the Gadhafi clan, said the dictator's wife, Safiya, also demanded an investigation.
"I am proud of the bravery of my husband, Moammar Gadhafi, the holy warrior, and my sons who confronted the aggression of 40 countries over the past six months," the station quoted the widow as saying in a statement.
Jibril, the acting Libyan prime minister, said he would not oppose an inquiry into Gadhafi's death, but that there is "no reason" to doubt the credibility of an official report that the ousted leader died in cross-fire.
"Have you seen a video of somebody killing him? I haven't seen any video tape or mobile film that shows somebody is killing Gadhafi," Jibril told reporters in Jordan where he was attending an international economic conference.
"What I told the press several times ... (is) that coroner says in the medical report that he (Gadhafi) was already wounded, taken out, put in that truck and on the way to the field hospital there was cross-fire from both sides," Jibril said. Jibril said it's unclear whether the fatal bullet was fired by loyalists or revolutionary forces.
The vast majority of Libyans seemed unconcerned about the circumstances of the hated leader's death, but rather was relieved the country's ruler of 42 years was gone, clearing the way for a new beginning.
"If he (Gadhafi) was taken to court, this would create more chaos, and would encourage his supporters," said Salah Zlitni, 31, who owns a pizza parlor in downtown Tripoli. "Now it's over."
Libya's interim leaders are to formally declare later Sunday that the country has been liberated. The ceremony is to take place in the eastern city of Benghazi, the revolution's birthplace.
The long-awaited declaration starts the clock on Libya's transition to democracy. The transitional leadership has said it would declare a new interim government within a month of liberation and elections for a constitutional assembly within eight months, to be followed by votes for a parliament and president within a year.
The uprising against the Gadhafi regime erupted in February, as part of anti-government revolts spreading across the Middle East. Neighboring Tunisia, which put the so-called Arab Spring in motion with mass protests nearly a year ago, has taken the biggest step on the path to democracy, voting for a new assembly Sunday in its first truly free elections. Egypt, which has struggled with continued unrest, is next with parliamentary elections slated for November.
Libya's struggle has been the bloodiest so far in the region. Mass protests quickly turned into a civil war that killed thousands and paralyzed the country for the past eight months. Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte was the last loyalist stronghold to fall last week, but Gadhafi's son and one-time heir apparent, Seif al-Islam, apparently escaped with some of his supporters.
Jibril said Libya's National Transitional Council must move quickly to disarm former Libyan rebels and make sure huge weapons caches are turned over in coming days. The interim government has not explained in detail how it would tackle the task.
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VENEZUELAN President Hugo Chavez expressed anger over the death of Muammar Gaddafi, calling it an "outrage" and saying the ousted Libyan strongman was a "martyr".
"Sadly the death of Gaddafi has been confirmed," said Chavez, who had just returned to Venezuela from cancer treatment in Cuba.
"They assassinated him. It is another outrage," the Venezuelan leader told reporters in the town of La Grita.
"We shall remember Gaddafi our whole lives as a great fighter, a revolutionary and a martyr," he said.
Chavez had defended Gaddafi since the start of the uprising against the Libyan leader's regime in February, and accused NATO of using the conflict to gain control over Libya's oil.
"The saddest thing is that in its quest to dominate the world, the empire and its allies are setting it on fire," Chavez said, referring to the US by his preferred nickname.
Chavez has refused to recognise the new Libyan regime, and has ridiculed Libya's new UN representative as a "puppet" and a "dummy".
In 2004, Chavez was awarded the Al-Kadhafi International Prize for Human Rights, a prize granted by the Libyan leader. Cuba's Fidel Castro and Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega have also won the award.
TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Libya's new leaders will declare liberation on Sunday, officials said, a move that will start the clock for elections after months of bloodshed that culminated in the death of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi.
But the victory has been clouded by questions over how Gadhafi was killed after images emerged showing he was found alive and taunted and beaten by his captors.
The body of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi lies on a mattress a commercial freezer at a shopping center in Misrata, Libya, Friday, Oct. 21, 2011. The burial of slain leader Moammar Gadhafi has been delayed until the circumstances of his death can be further examined and a decision is made about where to bury the body, Libyan officials said Friday, as the U.N. human rights office called for an investigation into his death. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo)
The long-awaited declaration of liberation will come more than two months after revolutionary forces swept into Tripoli and seized control of most of the oil-rich North African nation. It was stalled by fierce resistance by Gadhafi loyalists in his hometown of Sirte, Bani Walid and pockets in the South.
Sirte was the last to fall, but Gadhafi's son and one-time heir apparent and many of his fighters have apparently escaped, raising fears they could continue to make trouble.
With Gadhafi gone, however, the governing National Transitional Council was moving forward with efforts to transform the country that was ruled by one man for more than four decades into a democracy.
NTC officials had said the announcement would be made Saturday in the eastern city of Benghazi, the revolution's birthplace. But spokesman Abdel-Rahman Busin said preparations were under way for a Sunday ceremony instead. He didn't give an explanation for the delay.
The transitional leadership has said it would declare a new interim government within a month of liberation and hold elections for a constitutional assembly within eight months, then to organize parliamentary and presidential vote within a year after that.
On Saturday, acting Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril, who has said he plans to resign after liberation, said the interim government "should last until the first presidential elections."
Speaking at the World Economic Forum on the Jordanian shores of the Dead Sea, he also said the NTC must move quickly to disarm rebels who helped to overthrow Gadhafi's nearly 42-year-old regime. He said it was a priority to ensure huge caches of weapons are turned in over the "next few days."
Jibril also said the Libyan people must remember the agony of the past and choose a different path for the future. He said he was "relieved" after Gadhafi's ouster, describing it as a "great moment in my life."
Gadhafi's blood-streaked body has been put on display in a commercial freezer at a shopping center in Misrata as Libyan authorities argued about where to bury the remains. Fighters from Misrata — a city brutally besieged by Gadhafi's forces during the civil war — seemed to claim ownership of it, forcing the delay of a planned burial Friday.
Fathi Bashagha, a spokesman for the Misrata military council, said a decision will be made Saturday but he ruled out a full autopsy unless demanded by an international committee or the transitional government "and so far there have been no requests."
At least four groups of doctors have examined the body and determined the cause of death was a bullet to the head and stomach, Bashagha said. "As far as we are concerned in Misrata, doctors have checked him and determined how he died, so there is no need to cut his body up," he said.
The bloody siege of Misrata over the summer instilled a particularly virulent hatred of Gadhafi there — a hatred now mixed with pride because he was captured and killed by fighters from Libya's third-largest city, 125 miles (200 kilometers) southeast of Tripoli.
Residents crowded into long lines to get a chance to view the body of Gadhafi, which was laid out on a mattress on the floor of an emptied-out vegetable and onions freezer. The body had apparently been stowed in the freezer in an attempt to keep it out of the public eye, but once the location was known, that intention was swept away in the overwhelming desire of residents to see the man they so deeply despised.
Men, women and children filed in to take their picture with the body, with some chanting "We want to see the dog."
The site's guards had even organized separate visiting hours for families and single men.
Gadhafi's 69-year-old body was stripped to the waist, his torso and arms streaked with dried blood. Bullet wounds in the chest, abdomen and left side of the head were visible.
Gadhafi's family, most of whom are in Algeria or other nearby African nations, issued a statement Friday calling for an investigation into how Gadhafi and another of his sons, Muatassim, were killed. In the statement on the pro-Gadhafi, Syria-based TV station Al-Rai, they asked for international pressure on the NTC to hand over the bodies of the two men to their tribe.
Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the images of his last moments were very disturbing.
"More details are needed to ascertain whether he was killed in some form of fighting or was executed after his capture," Colville said.
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MISRATA, Libya (AP) — Moammar Gadhafi's blood-streaked body was stashed in a commercial freezer at a shopping center Friday as Libyans tried to keep it away from angry crowds as they figure out where to bury the longtime dictator.
The makeshift provisions for the corpse reflected the disorganization and confusion that has surrounded Gadhafi's death. Accounts of how he died after being captured by revolutionary fighters remained contradictory, and the top U.N. rights official raised concerns he was shot to death in custody.
His burial had been planned for Friday, in accordance with Islamic traditions calling for quick interment. But the interim government delayed it, saying the circumstances of his death still had to be determined. Information Minister Mahmoud Shammam also said authorities are "debating right now what the best place is to bury him."
An AP correspondent saw the body at the shopping center in the coastal city of Misrata, home of the fighters who killed the ousted leader a day earlier in his hometown of Sirte.
The body, stripped to the waist and wearing beige trousers, was laid on a bloodied mattress on the floor of an emptied-out room-sized freezer where restaurants and stores in the center normally keep perishables. A bullet hole was visible on the left side of his head — with the bullet still lodged in his head, according to the presiding doctor — and in the center of his chest and stomach. His hair was matted and dried blood streaks his arms and head.
Outside the shopping center, hundreds of civilians from Misrata jostled to get inside for a peek at the body, shouting "God is great" and "We want to see the dog."
Bashir Ali, a commander from the Misrata military operations room, said the burial would be in a secret location to avoid revenge attacks. "Gadhafi hurt a lot of people and many will want to find his body for revenge, so we need to make sure he is not found," he said.
The 69-year-old Gadhafi was captured wounded but alive, and there have been contradictory accounts of how and when he received his fatal wounds. New video emerged Friday of a bloodied Gadhafi being taunted and beaten by the fighters who pulled him out of a drainage tunnel following clashes in his hometown of Sirte on Thursday.
"More details are needed to ascertain whether he was killed in some form of fighting or was executed after his capture," said Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, calling the images of Gadhafi's last moments very disturbing.
Gadhafi's capture came when revolutionary fighters overwhelmed him and his last die-hard loyalists in Sirte, seizing control of the regime's last major bastion after a heavily fought, weekslong siege. Exact details of his final hours remain unclear.
According to most accounts from fighters on the ground and their commanders, Gadhafi was in a convoy trying to flee, when NATO airstrikes hit two of the vehicles. Then revolutionary forces moved in and clashed with the loyalists with Gadhafi for several hours. Gadhafi and his bodyguards fled their cars and took refuge in a nearby drainage tunnel. Fighters pursued and clashed with them, and in the end, Gadhafi emerged from tunnel and was grabbed by fighters.
New footage posted on Facebook shows the moments when Gadhafi was dragged by revolutionary fighters up the hill to their vehicles. The young men screaming "Moammar, you dog!" beat the confused-looking Gadhafi, who wipes at blood covering the left side of his head and neck and left shoulder.
The body of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi lies on a mattress in a commercial freezer at a shopping center Misrata, Libya, Friday, Oct. 21, 2011. The burial of slain leader Moammar Gadhafi has been delayed until the circumstances of his death can be further examined and a decision is made about where to bury the body, Libyan officials said Friday, as the U.N. human rights office called for an investigation into his death. (AP Photo/Rami al-Shabheibi)
Gadhafi gestures to the young men to be patient, and says "What's going on?" as he wipes fresh blood from his temple and glances at his palm. A young fighter later is shown carrying a boot and screaming, "This is Moammar's shoe! This is Moammar's shoe! Victory! Victory!"
The next point that most accounts agree upon is that Gadhafi died about 30-40 minutes later as he was being taken in an ambulance to Misrata. A coroners report said he bled to death from a shot to the head, and he also had shots to the chest and belly. Accounts have been confused, however, over where and how those fatal shots were suffered.
Most commanders and fighters who were at the scene with whom The Associated Press has spoken say that when he was captured, Gadhafi had already suffered the wounds that would lead to his death. That would mean that in the video, Gadhafi would have a bullet imbedded in his head, another in his chest and a third near his belly button. Yet, he is seen upright, talking and has the strength to struggle back, and there is no blood on his chest or belly. At one point, his shirt is pulled up to his chest, but no belly wound is visible.
Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril gave a different account Thursday, saying the fatal wounds were suffered later, when Gadhafi had been taken to the ambulance. As it set off for Misrata, the vehicle was caught in crossfire between revolutionaries and Gadhafi loyalists.
Information Minister Mahmoud Shammam mirrored this version Friday, saying the wounds came later, after his capture. "It seems like the bullet was a stray and it could have come from the revolutionaries or the loyalists," Shammam said. "The problem is everyone around the event is giving his own story."
But other fighters, commanders and witnesses have not spoken of any such crossfire or further clashes. Siraq al-Hamali, a 21- year-old fighter, told AP that he rode in the vehicle carrying Gadhafi as it left Sirte and did not mention coming under fire. He said by the time they reached a field hospital 20 miles (30 kilometers) outside Sirte, Gadhafi had died of wounds he already had.
"I really wanted him alive and everybody did, but he was destined to die and we could do nothing to change that," he said. "He won't be missed, and that's all for the best and let's get on with our lives."
One of Gadhafi's sons, Muatassim, was also killed in Sirte, but the fate of Gadhafi's one-time heir apparent Seif al-Islam was unclear. Some Libyan officials said he had been wounded and was being held in a hospital in Zlitan. But Shammam said Friday that Seif al-Islam's whereabouts were not confirmed, leaving open the possibility he escaped.
Many Libyans awoke after a night of jubilant celebration and celebratory gunfire with hope for the future but also concern that their new rulers, the National Transitional Council, might repeat the mistakes of the past.
Khaled Almslaty, a 42-year-old clothing vendor in Tripoli, said he wished Gadhafi had been captured alive.
"But I believe he got what he deserved because if we prosecuted him for the smallest of his crimes, he would be punished by death," he said. "Now we hope the NTC will accelerate the formation of a new government and ... won't waste time on irrelevant conflicts and competing for authority and positions."
Thousands of people converged for Friday prayers on Martrys' Square, formerly known as Green Square and the site from which Gadhafi made many defiant speeches trying to rally support as the uprising against him turned into a civil war.
One group of men danced and hoisted the country's new tricolor flag, chanting slogans against Syrian President Bashar Assad, who also faces an uprising against his rule as part of the Arab Spring that has also seen the leaders of Egypt and Tunisia ousted.
"It's your turn Bashar, zenga, zenga, dar, dar," they chanted.
"Zenga, zenga, dar, dar" is Arabic for "alley by alley, house by house," a phrase used by Gadhafi in his last months in power, referring to how his forces would hunt down those who rose up against him.
Women, who wore headscarves and prayed in a separate section, hoisted a banner that said, "It's a new morning without the colonel," using Gadhafi's military designation.
The governing National Transitional Council said interim leader Mustafa Abdul-Jalil will formally declare liberation on Saturday in the eastern city of Benghazi, where the revolution began in mid-February. The NTC has said it will form a new interim government within a month of liberation and will hold elections within eight months.
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MISRATA, Libya (AP) — Moammar Gadhafi's blood-streaked body has been stashed in a commercial freezer at a shopping center as Libyans try to keep it away from crowds as they figure out where and when to bury the hated leader.
The body of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi lies on a mattress in a commercial freezer at a shopping center Misrata, Libya, Friday, Oct. 21, 2011. The burial of slain leader Moammar Gadhafi has been delayed until the circumstances of his death can be further examined and a decision is made about where to bury the body, Libyan officials said Friday, as the U.N. human rights office called for an investigation into his death. (AP Photo/Rami al-Shabheibi)
An AP correspondent saw the body Friday at the shopping center in the coastal city of Misrata, home of the fighters who killed the ousted leader a day earlier in his hometown of Sirte.
The body, stripped to the waist and wearing beige trousers, is laid on a bloodied mattress on the floor of a room-sized freezer where restaurants and stores in the center keep perishables. A bullet hole is visible on the left side of his head and in the center of his chest. Dried blood streaks his arms and head.
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TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Libyan Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril says Moammar Gadhafi has been killed.
Revolutionary fighters celebrate the capture of Sirte, Libya, Thusday, Oct. 20, 2011. Officials in Libya's transitional government said Moammar Gadhafi was captured and possibly killed Thursday when revolutionary forces overwhelmed his hometown, Sirte, the last major bastion of resistance two months after the regime fell. Amid the fighting, a NATO airstrike blasted a fleeing convoy that fighters said was carrying Gadhafi. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo)
SIRTE, Libya (AP) — Moammar Gadhafi, who ruled Libya with a dictatorial grip for 42 years until he was ousted by rebels in a bloody civil war, was killed Thursday when revolutionary forces overwhelmed his hometown, Sirte, the last major bastion of resistance two months after the regime fell.
Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril confirmed Gadhafi had been killed. "We have been waiting for this moment for a long time. Moammar Gadhafi has been killed," Jibril told a news conference in the capital Tripoli.
Initial reports from fighters said Gadhafi had been holed up with the last of his fighters in the furious battle with revolutionary fighters assaulting the last few buildings they held in his Mediterranean coastal hometown of Sirte. At one point, a convoy tried to flee the area and was blasted by NATO airstrikes, though it was not clear if Gadhafi was in the vehicle.
Al-Jazeera TV showed footage of a man resembling the 69-year-old Gadhafi lying dead or severely wounded, bleeding from the head and stripped to the waist as fighters rolled him over on the pavement. Witnesses said his body was put on display in the nearby city of Misrata.
Celebratory gunfire and cries of "Allahu Akbar" or "God is Great" rang out across the capital Tripoli as the reports spread. Cars honked their horns and people hugged each other. In Sirte, the ecstatic former rebels celebrated the city's fall after weeks of bloody siege by firing endless rounds into the sky, pumping their guns, knives and even a meat cleaver in the air and singing the national anthem.
Libya's new leaders had said they would declare the country's "liberation" after the fall of Sirte. The death or capture of Gadhafi adds greater solidity to that declaration.
It rules out a scenario that some had feared — that he might flee deeper into Libya's southern deserts and lead a resistance campaign against Libya's rulers. The fate of two of his sons, Seif al-Islam and Muatassim, as well as some top figures of his regime remains unknown, but their ability to rally loyalists would be deeply undermined with Gadhafi's loss.
Information Minister Mahmoud Shammam said he was told that Gadhafi was dead from fighters who said they saw the body. "Our people in Sirte saw the body," Shammam told The Associated Press. "Revolutionaries say Gadhafi was in a convoy and that they attacked the convoy." He said the government head, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, would officially confirm the death, but it was not clear when. Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril, the number two in the administration, called a press conference for 4 p.m. local time (10 a.m EDT)
Sirte's fall caps weeks of heavy, street-by-street fighting as revolutionary fighters besieged the Mediterranean coastal city. Despite the fall of Tripoli on Aug. 21, Gadhafi loyalists mounted fierce resistance in several areas, including Sirte, preventing Libya's new leaders from declaring full victory in the eight-month civil war. Earlier this week, revolutionary fighters gained control of one stronghold, Bani Walid.
By Tuesday, fighters said they had squeezed Gadhafi's forces in Sirte into a residential area of about 700 square yards but were still coming under heavy fire from surrounding buildings.
In an illustration of how heavy the fighting has been, it took the anti-Gadhafi fighters two days to capture a single residential building.
Reporters at the scene watched as the final assault began around 8 a.m. Thursday and ended about 90 minutes later. Just before the battle, about five carloads of Gadhafi loyalists tried to flee the enclave down the coastal highway that leads out of the city. But they were met by gunfire from the revolutionaries, who killed at least 20 of them.
Col. Roland Lavoie, spokesman for NATO's operational headquarters in Naples, Italy, said the alliance's aircraft Thursday morning struck two vehicles of pro-Gadhafi forces "which were part of a larger group maneuvering in the vicinity of Sirte."
But NATO officials, speaking on condition of anonymity in accordance to alliance rules, said the alliance also could not independently confirm whether Gadhafi was killed or captured.
The Misrata Military Council, one of the command groups, said its fighters captured Gadhafi.
Another commander, Abdel-Basit Haroun, said Gadhafi was killed when the airstrike hit the fleeing convoy.
One fighter who said he was at the battle told AP Television News that the final fight took place at an opulent compound for visiting dignitaries built by Gadhafi's regime. Adel Busamir said the convoy tried to break out but after being hit it turned back and re-entered the compound. Several hundred fighters assaulted.
"We found him there," Busamir said. "We saw them beating him (Gadhafi) and someone shot him with a 9mm pistol ... then they took him away." In a sign of the conflicting versions, military spokesman Col. Ahmed Bani in Tripoli told Al-Jazeera TV, "I can assure everyone in Libya that Gadhafi has been killed for sure and I'm definitely sure and I reassure everyone that this story has ended and this book has closed."
But rather than a strike on the convoy, he said a wounded Gadhafi "tried to resist (revolutionary forces) so they took him down."
After the battle, revolutionaries began searching homes and buildings looking for any hiding Gadhafi fighters. At least 16 were captured, along with cases of ammunition and trucks loaded with weapons. Reporters saw revolutionaries beating captured Gadhafi men in the back of trucks and officers intervening to stop them.
In the central quarter where Thursday's final battle took place, the fighters looking like the same ragtag force that started the uprising eight months ago jumped up and down with joy and flashed V-for-victory signs. Some burned the green Gadhafi flag, then stepped on it with their boots.
They chanted "Allah akbar," or "God is great" in Arabic, while one fighter climbed a traffic light pole to unfurl the revolution's flag, which he first kissed. Discarded military uniforms of Gadhafi's fighters littered the streets. One revolutionary fighter waved a silver trophy in the air while another held up a box of firecrackers, then set them off.
"Our forces control the last neighborhood in Sirte," Hassan Draoua, a member of Libya's interim National Transitional Council, told The Associated Press in Tripoli. "The city has been liberated."
SIRTE, Libya (AP) — Officials in Libya's transitional government said Moammar Gadhafi was captured and possibly killed Thursday when revolutionary forces overwhelmed his hometown, Sirte, the last major bastion of resistance two months after the regime fell. Amid the fighting, a NATO airstrike blasted a fleeing convoy that fighters said was carrying Gadhafi.
Libyan fighters celebrate in the streets of Sirte Libya in this image taken from TV Thursday Oct. 20, 2011. The Libyan fighters on Thursday overran the remaining positions of Moammar Gadhafi loyalists in his hometown of Sirte, ending the last major resistance by former regime supporters still holding out two months after the fall of the capital Tripoli. (AP Photo/APTN) TV OUT
The head of the government did not immediately not confirm Gadhafi's capture or death. The transitional government called a news conference in Tripoli, where Prime Minister Mustafa Abdul-Jalil could confirm the death.
Information Minister Mahmoud Shammam said he was told that Gadhafi was dead from fighters who said they saw the body. He said he expects the prime minister to confirm the death soon, noting that past reports emerged before they could confirm them 100 percent.
"Our people in Sirte saw the body ... Mustafa Abdul-Jalil will confirm it soon," Shammam told The Associated Press. "Revolutionaries say Gadhafi was in a convoy and that they attacked the convoy."
Other military officials in the government also said Gadhafi was dead and several revolutionary groups fighting in Sirte also said he was either killed or captured.
The transitional government called a news conference in Tripoli, where Abdul-Jalil could confirm the death.
Celebratory gunfire and cries of "Allahu Akbar" or "God is Great" rang out across Tripoli as the reports spread. Cars honked their horns and people hugged each other. In Sirte, the ecstatic former rebels celebrated the city's fall after weeks of bloody siege by firing endless rounds into the sky, pumping their guns, knives and even a meat cleaver in the air and singing the national anthem.
Despite the fall of Tripoli on Aug. 21, Gadhafi loyalists mounted fierce resistance in several areas, including Sirte, preventing Libya's new leaders from declaring full victory in the eight-month civil war. Earlier this week, revolutionary fighters gained control of one stronghold, Bani Walid, and by Tuesday said they had squeezed Gadhafi's forces in Sirte into a residential area of about 700 square yards but were still coming under heavy fire from surrounding buildings.
Reporters at the scene watched as the final assault began around 8 a.m. and ended about 90 minutes later. Just before the battle, about five carloads of Gadhafi loyalists tried to flee the enclave down the coastal highway that leads out of the city. But they were met by gunfire from the revolutionaries, who killed at least 20 of them.
Col. Roland Lavoie, spokesman for NATO's operational headquarters in Naples, Italy, said the alliance's aircraft Thursday morning struck two vehicles of pro-Gadhafi forces "which were part of a larger group maneuvering in the vicinity of Sirte."
But NATO officials, speaking on condition of anonymity in accordance to alliance rules, said the alliance also could not independently confirm whether Gadhafi was killed or captured.
After the battle, revolutionaries began searching homes and buildings looking for any hiding Gadhafi fighters. At least 16 were captured, along with cases of ammunition and trucks loaded with weapons. Reporters saw revolutionaries beating captured Gadhafi men in the back of trucks and officers intervening to stop them.
In an illustration of how difficult and slow the fighting for Sirte was, it took the anti-Gadhafi fighters two days to capture a single residential building.
In the central quarter where Thursday's final battle took place, the fighters looking like the same ragtag force that started the uprising eight months ago jumped up and down with joy and flashed V-for-victory signs. Some burned the green Gadhafi flag, then stepped on it with their boots.
They chanted "Allah akbar," or "God is great" in Arabic, while one fighter climbed a traffic light pole to unfurl the revolution's flag, which he first kissed. Discarded military uniforms of Gadhafi's fighters littered the streets. One revolutionary fighter waved a silver trophy in the air while another held up a box of firecrackers, then set them off.
"Our forces control the last neighborhood in Sirte," Hassan Draoua, a member of Libya's interim National Transitional Council, told The Associated Press in Tripoli. "The city has been liberated."
The Misrata Military Council, one of the command groups, said its fighters captured Gadhafi. Another commander, Abdel-Basit Haroun, says Gadhafi was killed when the airstrike hit the fleeing convoy.
In a sign of the conflicting versions, military spokesman Col. Ahmed Bani in Tripoli told Al-Jazeera TV, "I can assure everyone in Libya that Gadhafi has been killed for sure and I'm definitely sure and I reassure everyone that this story has ended and this book has closed."
But rather than a strike on the convoy, he said a wounded Gadhafi "tried to resist (revolutionary forces) so they took him down."
The spokesman for Libya's transitional government, Jalal al-Gallal, and another military spokesman Abdul-Rahman Busin said the reports have not been confirmed.
The caution in making a definitive announcement came because past reports of Gadhafi family deaths or captures have later proven incorrect, even after they were announced by officials, because of the confusion among the revolutionary forces' ranks and the multiple bodies involved in commanding their fighters.
Gadhafi loyalists who have escaped could still continue the fight and attempt to organize an insurgency using the vast amount of weapons Gadhafi was believed to have stored in hideouts in the remote southern desert.
Unlike Iraq's Saddam Hussein, Gadhafi had no well-organized political party that could form the basis of an insurgent leadership. However, regional and ethnic differences have already appeared among the ranks of the revolutionaries, possibly laying the foundation for civil strife.
Gadhafi has issued several audio recordings trying to rally supporters. Libyan officials have said they believe he's hiding somewhere in the vast southwestern desert near the borders with Niger and Algeria.
Source:
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The hometown of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi fell today as the last vestige of control for the man once hailed as the "king of kings of Africa" came to an end. And officials in the transitional government say Gadhafi, who has been in hiding since rebels seized control of Tripoli, was captured or killed.
FILE - In this Saturday, June 12, 2010 file photo, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi talks during a ceremony to mark the 40th anniversary of the evacuation of the American military bases in the country, in Tripoli, Libya. The Associated Press is aware of reports that Moammar Gadhafi has been captured in Sirte. The chief spokesman for the revolutionary National Transitional Council Jalal el-Gallal and the council military spokesman Abdul-Rahman Busin told the AP that those reports are unconfirmed. (AP Photo/ Abdel Magid Al Fergany, File)
Here's a running account of the day's developments. All times are local in Libya, which is two hours ahead of GMT and six hours ahead of EDT.
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3:44 p.m.
Libyan officials are calling a news conference in Tripoli with Mahmoud Jibril, the prime minister of the transitional government and the highest-ranking official in the capital now. It's scheduled to begin in 15 minutes.
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3:32 p.m.
There are celebrations in the streets in Tripoli as reports spread of Gadhafi's capture or possible death. The transitional government summoned journalists more than an hour ago for an imminent news conference, but they still haven't made an official announcement.
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3:16 p.m.
A Libyan fighter told The Associated Press he was there when Gadhafi was shot with a 9 mm gun in the lower body. Standing in front of a truck with a crowd of congratulatory comrades, he says he struck the former dictator with his shoe — a grave insult in the Arab world — waving the footwear in question for emphasis.
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3:04 p.m.
In Sirte, fighters who have battled for months to seize control of the country from Gadhafi's forces embraced in the streets and chanted. "The war, it's finished," one fighter said.
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2:54 p.m.
A spokesman for Libya's transitional government says Gadhafi has been captured and possibly killed in the fall of his hometown. Information Minister Mahmoud Shammam says he expects the prime minister to make an announcement in an hour or so. Past reports of Gadhafi's death or capture have been wrong.
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2:44 p.m.
NATO confirms they've hit a convoy of Gadhafi loyalists fleeing Sirte, and Libyan fighters say they captured the ousted leader.
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2:14 p.m.
White House officials are monitoring the reports of Gadhafi's capture and death but say they can't confirm anything. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was just in Libya yesterday and said then she hoped for his demise. She also offered U.S. aid to the interim government.
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2:09 p.m.
Libyan officials and NATO say they can't confirm reports that Gadhafi was captured or killed today when his hometown fell.
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12:36 p.m.
Discarded military uniforms of Gadhafi's forces are in the streets. One fighter climbed a traffic light, kissed the revolution's flag then unfurled it.
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11:35 a.m.
"The city has been liberated," says Hassan Draoua, a member of Libya's interim government. The Libyan fighters were seen beating captured Gadhafi men in the back of trucks, with officers trying to stop them.
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11:05 a.m.
Gadhafi's hometown, Sirte, has fallen to the rebels. Our reporter in the city says Libyan fighters are searching homes and buildings looking for any Gadhafi loyalists who might be hiding.
Source: Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
