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Libya's Jibril confirms Col. Gaddafi dead, 'this is the moment we have waited for'
Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has been killed and his body has been taken to the city of Misurata, Libya's interim prime minister Mahmoud Jibril has confirmed.
"We have been waiting for this moment for a long time," Jibril told a news conference in the capital Tripoli.
Footage has emerged that purportedly shows anti-Gaddafi fighters surrounding the body of the ousted Libyan leader before it loaded onto the back of a vehicle.
There have been conflicting reports about how the capture and killing happened.
National Transitional Council spokesman Abdullah Berrassali told Sky News: "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."
Earlier National Transitional Council (NTC) military commander Abdel Majid he was injured in a gunfight as his convoy attempted to flee Sirte.
An anti-Gaddafi fighter who claimed he witnessed Gaddafi's capture said the former Libyan leader was shot in the stomach as he hid with his bodyguards.
"We catch him and we shot him, somebody shot him by gun - 9mm," the witness said. Pointing to another man next to him, he added: "This man hit Muammar Gaddafi with his shoes."
Libyan TV channels showed footage of two large drainage tunnels where other reports suggested he had been killed.
Spray painted above the pipe openings were the words "contemptible Gaddafi" and "God is greatest". There was a corpse, apparently a pro-Gaddafi fighter, lying on the ground nearby.
Another commander, Abdel-Basit Haroun, said Gaddafi was killed in a Nato airstrike.
Anti-Gaddafi fighters celebrated on the streets as reports of Gaddafi's fate emerged.
"We did it! We did it!" fighters in Sirte chanted, exchanging hugs and handshakes.
Sky reporter Kitty Logan in the Libyan capital said: "The mood here in Tripoli is of absolute euphoria.
"This is the moment they have been waiting for, this is what their revolution was about and if the rumours are true this is closure for the Libyan people."
Foreign affairs editor Lisa Holland said: "There have been repeated claims in the past that Gaddafi's sons were captured, and they turned out not to be true, so we will have to have the evidence.
"However, prime minister Mustafa Abdul Jalil is due to address the nation very shortly. I do not believe he would want to go on television without being certain."
Arabic news channels reported Colonel Gaddafi's son Mutassim had also been captured alive in Sirte on Thursday.
A Pro-Gaddafi television channel was quick to deny his death or his capture.
Prime minister David Cameron, however, welcomed the news in a short statement outside Downing Street.
"I think today is a day to remember all of Colonel Gaddafi's victims," he said.
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Today Democracy means that 2 wrongs make a right
I only hope that this is the begining of the best in everything for the Libyan peoples
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At the end of the day - when any leader over stays in power he is a dictator and the end that Geddafi got is well deserved. I know for a fact that when geddaffi came into power he did a lot of good to Libya and his collaboration with say Malta was morally correct.
That was many years ago. His legitimacy ended within 8 years of being in power at most.
Other leaders around the world should take note, including those in Europe and especially those in Malta. Having a parliament made up of the sons of the previous administration is NOT democracy. Having the leader of a party stay in government until he is too old and needs medical treatment is NOT democracy. Having a leader plotting with a foreign government on betraying the constitution of his own country is NOT a legitimate leader. Having a cabinet that simply refuses to resign is DICTATORSHIP. Having government contracts passed to family companies and front companies of party supporters is NOT the action of a legitimate government.
Let's rejoice that some justice was done today.
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@ Miss Sixty Malta
Such a shameful comment from your side! I bet that you benefited out of Gaddafi's help to Malta, directly or indirectly! You must be a practical Roman Catholic!
Now I just wish that in most EU countries we will see the protests on the increase. Gaddafi was a known dictator, but all these European politicians are causing alot of hardship towards their people. First they steal loads of money, and then they want to introduce new taxes so that the people would pay for their mistakes. This is UNACCEPTABLE!!!!! Shame on the Maltese parliament for endorsing the deal to help financially Greece. As if we are not already paying enough over here for the mistakes made by this government, we have to pay for the mistakes of foreign politicians too!!
The Maltese have become like they used to be some 50 years ago, ass lickers of foreigners! I don't know why the party in government calls it's self 'NATIONALIST PARTY', when in fact their only interest is to serve and please foreign interests.
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@ Miss Sixty Malta
Last two Maltese Prime Ministers to embrace Gaddafi where EFA and Gonzi. The latter rubbing his nose with him and inviting him to Malta a few weeks before his demise.
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A minimum wage of 28/32.000Euro,bonuses on oil revenue for everyone,free schooling,free university education,free healthcare,free or minimum rent housing. One of the best social systems in the World Just some of the many benefits enjoyed by the people of Gaddaffi's Libya. Libya may not not have been a democracy,but then where is there democracy?The manner of his execution make those killers no better or no different than other criminals. I only hope that it is not a sign of times to come for Libya,though I fear that it is. Shame on those few who sold their Country for a few million dollars/.
anthony buttigieg •
This is a great day in Libya's history, indeed. Alt last, brave Libyans have manged to put an end, not only to a despotic regime, but to the despot himself, who suppressed their freedom and ruled them with an iron fist for over four decades, a period rife with dictatorial corruption, persecution and utter disrespect for human rights and even disregard for human life.
On this great occasion, I would like to extend my heartfelt congratulations to the Libyan people, and wish them prosperous future in the shade of democracy.
I would like to also greet Malta for siding with the Libyan people during the revolution, and for hosting the brave Libyan military pilots who disobeyed Gaddafi's orders and took refuge to Malta.
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I agree with moribund celebrating a man's death is shallow a shallowness we have experienced in Malta when a certain blogger wrote she would dance on Mintoff's grave when it was rteported he was admitted to emergency at Mater Dei.
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Apparently Gadaffi's capture as required by the NTC for him to face charges was not to be. He wasn't killed fighting but as reports have it, so someone was more interested of having him killed then taken alive, why?
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Let's hope that now Libya starts on the road to recovery and truely search for democracy because it benefits us all.
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I bet Mintoff and KMB are feeling pig sick. Good!!!
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IT IS THE LIBYANS WHO CELEBRATE MORIBUND ANS I GUESS YOU WILL JUST HAVE TO PUT UP WITH THEIR SHALLOWNESS A BIT, CONSIDERING 42 YEARS OF TYRANNY THEY HAVE PUT UP WITH!!
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Plus ca change,plus c'est la meme chose.
Nothing changes.Expect more of the same killing,onlyt this time there is no strong leader in Libya to keep things in check, and unlike the French,British and Americans we are still only a missile away. Do not celebrate the death of any man,it would only show how shallow you are.
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Sewer NOt sewar, for Pete's sake!
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HE WANTED TO DIE A MARTYR. WELL GIVE HIM A PALM...
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If the reports are true,it will not mean the end of bloodshed in Libya,far from it. There is no Government,no ordern no anything but a lot of different factions fighting for position .As with Iraq the killing goes on and will go .
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When I see his dead body I will believe...until then I do not! Its all US-EU MEDIA BULLSHIT.
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Mahmoud Jibril, Libya's Interim Leader, has hinted that he may step down as soon as today.
In an interview with Time magazine's Vivienne Walt, Jibril described the frustrations of Libya's political power struggle.
He sadi: "We have moved into a political struggle with no boundaries. The political struggle requires finances, organisation, arms and ideologies. I am afraid I don't have any of this."
