UPDATE: The NTC have confirmed the death of Muammar Gaddafi
“He [Gaddafi] was also hit in his head,” National Transitional Council official Abdel Majid Mlegta told Reuters. “There was a lot of firing against his group and he died.”
Al Arabia reported 45min ago (via twitter) that the corpse of Muammar Gaddafi arrived in Misrata.
Libyan interim authorities fighters captured Muammar Gaddafi’s home city on Thursday, extinguishing the final substantial holdout of resistance by troops loyal towards the deposed leader and ending a two-month siege.
The seize of Sirte indicates Libya’s ruling Nationwide Transitional Council (NTC) ought to now start the job forging a brand new democratic program which it had stated it might begin following the town, constructed like a showpiece for Gaddafi’s rule, had fallen.
Information reviews had been conflicting on whether or not Gaddafi was arrested.
At first, Libyan Television channels circulated reviews the embattled leader himself was arrested.
Other reviews stated the corpse of Gaddafi had arrived in Misrata.
A senior NTC army official stated that Gaddafi died of wounds endured in his seize close to his hometown of Sirte.
NTC official Abdel Majid Mlegta informed Reuters previously that Gaddafi was captured and wounded in each legs at dawn on Thursday as he attempted to flee inside a convoy which NATO warplanes attacked.
The Libyan authorities also stated that Gaddafi was hiding inside a hole in Sirte, shouting “don’t shoot, don’t shoot.”
There had been reviews also by Reuters that Gaddafi’s son, Mutassim, and his intelligence head, Abdullah al-Sinosi and had been arrested.
The U.S. State Division on Thursday stated it couldn’t verify that deposed Gaddafi was captured and wounded in each legs.
“We’ve seen the media reports but can’t confirm them,” State Division spokeswoman Beth Gosselin informed Reuters.
A pro-Gaddafi tv web site denied Thursday reviews the strongman had been killed or captured.
“The reports peddled by the lackeys of NATO about the capture or death of the brother leader, Muammar Gaddafi, is baseless,” stated Al-Libiya tv. Gaddafi “is in good health,” they added.
But Holland’s prime minister stated that Gaddafi was captured.
Meanwhile, Libyan NTC fighters stated that they had been arresting previous Libyan officials and medics stated that Gaddafi’s protection minister, Abu Bakr Yunis, was lifeless.
A Libyan transitional forces commander stated Moussa Ibrahim, previous spokesman for Gaddafi’s fallen authorities, was captured close to the town of Sirte.
A group of some forty automobiles carrying Gaddafi forces had damaged out with the metropolis and had headed west, NTC fighters stated.
“The Gaddafi people broke out west, but the revolutionaries have them surrounded and are dealing with them,” said one of the fighters, Abdul Salam Mohammad.
Reporters in the scene watched because the last assault started about eight a.m. and ended about ninety minutes later on. Just prior to the assault, about 5 carloads of loyalists attempted to flee the enclave down the coastal highway but had been satisfied by gunfire in the revolutionaries, who killed a minimum of twenty of them.
Meanwhile, the troops didn’t permit reporters to enter the positions previously held from the Gaddafi loyalists because they stated mopping up functions had been nonetheless underway.
“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 after Sirte’s fall. “The city has been liberated.”
A minimum of sixteen pro-Gaddafi fighters had been captured, together with numerous instances of ammunition and trucks loaded with weapons. Reporters noticed the fighters beating captured Gaddafi males within the back again of trucks and officers intervening to quit them.
Commanders for Libya’s transitional authorities say they have captured rebel leader Col Muammar Gaddafi.
These news reports came right after the transitional forces regained control of the city Sirte, Col Gaddafi’s birthplace, after many weeks of ongoing battles.
The colonel was brought down in August after 42 years in commanding power. The International Criminal Court is waiting for his arrest.
“He’s captured. He’s wounded in both legs,” National Transitional Council (NTC) official Abdel Majid told Reuters news agency.
“He’s been taken away by ambulance.” AFP news agency quoted another NTC official, Mohamed Leith, as saying that Col Gaddafi had been captured in Sirte and was “seriously wounded” but still breathing.
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