AFP

LIBYAN Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril confirmed Gaddafi’s death at a news conference in the capital Tripoli yesterday.

“We have been waiting for this moment for a long time. Muammar Gaddafi has been killed,” said Jibril.

Gaddafi was killed by new regime forces in their final assault on the last pocket of resistance in his hometown of Sirte, a National Transitional Council spokesman said.

“We announce to the world that Gaddafi has been killed at the hands of the revolution,” Abdel Hafez Ghoga said in the eastern city of Benghazi.

“It is an historic moment. It is the end of tyranny and dictatorship. Gaddafi has met his fate,” he added.

Another NTC commander, said one of Gaddafi’s sons, Mutassim, was also killed in Sirte.

“We found him dead. We put his body and that of (former Defence minister) Abu Bakr Yunis Jabar in an ambulance to take them to Misrata,” said Mohamed Leith.

NTC fighters who had fought in the bloody seven-month conflict that toppled the veteran despot at a cost of more than 25 000 lives, erupted in jubilation at the news, which followed earlier reports that Gaddafi had been captured.

A photograph taken on a mobile phone appeared to show the 69-year-old Gaddafi, toppled by NTC fighters in August, heavily bloodied.

In the poor-quality image, Gaddafi is seen with blood-soaked clothing and blood daubed across his face.

A video circulating among NTC fighters in Sirte showed mobile phone footage of what appeared to be Gaddafi’s bloodied corpse.

In the grainy images seen by an AFP correspondent, a large number of NTC fighters are seen yelling in chaotic scenes around a khaki-clad body which has blood oozing from the face and neck.

The body is then dragged off by the fighters and loaded in the back of a pick-up truck.

News of Gaddafi’s death came as new regime troops overran the last redoubt of his loyalists in Sirte, bringing to an end a two-month siege.

Fighters moving in from east and west overcame the last resistance in the city’s Number Two residential neighbourhood where his diehard supporters had been holed up.

The defence minister in Gaddafi’s ousted regime, Abu Bakr Yunis, was killed in the last battle, medics said.

“Sirte has been liberated, and with the confirmation that Gaddafi is dead — Libya has been completely liberated,” a top NTC military official, Khalifa Haftar, told AFP in Tripoli.

“Those who were fighting with Gaddafi have either been killed or captured,” he added.

Pick-up trucks blaring out patriotic music criss-crossed the streets of Sirte yesterday afternoon, as fighters flashed V for victory signs and chanted Allahu Akbar (God is Greatest).

A lot of pickup trucks are playing the new national anthem and other revolutionary songs.
“I am happy we have got revenge for our people who suffered for all these years and for those who were killed in the revolution. Gaddafi is finished,” said fighter Talar al-Kashmi.

Reaction of Gaddafi’s death poured in from around the globe with British Prime Minister David Cameron saying he was proud of the role the UK played in bringing about the end of Gaddafi’s regime.

Cameron said it was a day to “remember all of Gaddafi’s victims”. He said the Libyan people now had a better chance of building a “strong and democratic future”.
“We should remember all those who died at the hands of this brutal dictator.”

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said: “We expect that peace will come to Libya, and all those ruling the state will be able to reach an agreement on the structure of the governing bodies. As for Gaddafi personal fate, it is the Libyan people who should decide on it”.

EU chiefs Herman Van Rompuy and José Manuel Barroso said: “The reported death of Gaddafi marks the end of an era of despotism and repression from which the Libyan people have suffered for too long. Today Libya can turn a page in its history and embrace a new democratic future. We call on the NTC to pursue a broad based reconciliation process which reaches out to all Libyans and enables a democratic, peaceful and transparent transition in the country.”

Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs Franco Frattini said: “If confirmed, this would be a great victory for the Libyan people. It will pave the way for democratic transition, the creation of a transitional government and democratic elections, where the Libyan people can choose their own leaders.” — AFP.

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