COLONEL Gaddafi was killed today after being captured clutching a
golden gun.
The Mad Dog dictator was paraded through the streets in Libya beaten and
bloodied after being found cowering in a hole.
He was hunted down as he attempted to flee his hometown of Sirte in a convoy
of 80 jeeps.
A Nato airstrike on the vehicles left them badly damaged, but not destroyed,
and an injured Gaddafi managed to crawl away to hide inside a storm drain.
The attack allowed the rebel forces on the ground to close in on him.
Fighter Mohammed al-Bibi said he discovered the tyrant hiding in the large
concrete pipe brandishing the golden pistol.
The rebel, in his 20s, told reporters that Gaddafi had pleaded “Don’t
shoot, don’t shoot” as he attempted to surrender.
Grainy video footage released later apparently showed the 69-year-old former
leader alive and slumped on the back of a pickup truck surrounded by rebel
fighters.
Despite his serious injuries, he appears just about able to stand as the
revolutionaries pull him off the vehicle, before dragging him around the
streets.
He is also seen trying to talk to his captors as they jeer and chant around
him.
It has been suggested he was later shot in an execution-style killing.
One Libyan fighter claimed he was there when Gaddafi was shot in the lower
body with a 9mm gun.
Standing in front of a truck with a crowd of comrades, he said he struck the
former dictator with his shoe — a grave insult in the Arab world.
Libyan Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril confirmed Gaddafi was dead this
afternoon.
He told a news conference in the capital Tripoli: “We have been waiting for
this moment for a long time.”
US President Barack Obama said the death of Gaddafi marked the end of a “long
and painful chapter” for the people of Libya.
He said the US would be a partner to Libya following the dictator’s death, and
added the Nato mission in the North African country would “soon come to an
end”.
Speaking at the White House, Mr Obama said: “This marks the end of a long and
painful chapter for the people of Libya who now have the opportunity to
determine their own destiny in a new and democratic Libya.”
The president also said the death of Gaddafi was significant in the Arab world
where protests have provoked the fall of long-standing dictators.
He added: “The rule of an iron fist inevitably comes to an end.”
France’s Defence minister, Gerard Longuet, said it was a French fighter jet
that launched the attack which ultimately ended in Gaddafi’s death.
Nato confirmed the airstrike on the pro-Gaddafi vehicles this morning.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence added: “It was targeted on the basis
that this was the last of the pro-Gaddafi forces fleeing Sirte.”
PM David Cameron said in a statement outside Downing Street: “Prime Minister
Jibril has confirmed that Colonel Gaddafi is dead. I think today is a day to
remember all of Col Gaddafi’s victims.
“From those who died in connection with the Pan-Am flight over Lockerbie, to
Yvonne Fletcher in a London street, and obviously all the victims of IRA
terrorism through their use of Libyan semtex.”
Gaddafi’s capture came as rebel troops overran the final pockets of fighters
loyal to the dictator, who ruled Libya for 42 years before finally being
toppled in August, in Sirte.
As reports of his death circulated pictures emerged of a man, reported to be
Gaddafi, covered in blood.
And a second gruesome video, captured on a mobile phone, showed what appeared
to be Gaddafi’s dead body being dragged through the streets of Sirte.
The grainy footage showed a group of fighters pulling the corpse down a street
by a scarf around the head.
It is understood the leader’s body was later moved to a mosque in the town of
Misrata, the scene of some of the fiercest fighting earlier in the rebellion
which ousted him from power.
Gaddafi had been associated with some of the world’s most notorious terrorist
atrocities, including the bombing of the Pan-Am jet over Lockerbie, which
killed 270 people.
In Libya he ruthlessly crushed dissent against his autocratic rule while his
agents hunted down and killed opponents abroad.
Mr Cameron added: “We should also remember the many, many Libyans who died at
the hands of this brutal dictator and his regime.
“People in Libya today have an even greater chance, after this news, of
building themselves a strong and democratic future.
“I’m proud of the role Britain paid in helping them bring that about, and I
pay tribute to the bravery of the Libyans who helped liberate their country.
“We will help them, we will work with them, and that is what I want to say
today.”
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said Gaddafi’s death marked an “historic
transition for Libya”.
He added people should recognise that “this is only the end of the beginning”,
adding: “Now is the time for all Libyans to come together.”
And he said this is a time for “healing and rebuilding” in Libya – and “not
for revenge”.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the death of Gaddafi “turned a page” for
the Libyan people and signalled the start of a democratic process.
He said: “The liberation of Sirte must signal the start of a process agreed to
establish a democratic system in which all groups in the country have their
place and where fundamental freedoms are guaranteed.”
Sarkozy, who pushed for military intervention in Libya with Mr Cameron, said
now was the time for “reconciliation in unity and freedom”.
Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the dictator’s death opened the
path for “a new peaceful start for Libya”.
Libyans in London celebrated the end of Gaddafi’s resistance outside the
country’s embassy today.
Two friends who were applying for a visa heard the news while inside the
building in Knightsbridge.
One of the men, Akrum Mshaya, 30, a civil engineer, who also has British
citizenship, said: “We were lucky enough to hear the good news on TV inside
the embassy, which made me very very happy.
“I was standing on Libyan ground in there to hear this excellent news.
“We look forward to a better future, and an end to this violence that was
caused by the Gaddafi regime.
“It’s a good example to all the other countries. Other presidents should think
about this, and maybe end it as it starts, rather than drag it on and cause
so many losses.”
Earlier, International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell had said that if
the reports were confirmed, the freedom the people of Libya had hoped for
would come a step closer.
Mr Mitchell said: “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.”
Mr Mitchell said Mr Cameron had been “the key person in ensuring a new dawn”
in Libya.
He said: “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.
“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.”
Television broadcasts showed footage of NTC troops celebrating this morning
following the fall of Sirte.
Fierce gun battles on the streets of the coastal city brought an end to the
siege which has lasted almost two months since the Tripoli fell to the
rebels in August.
NTC member Hassan Draoua said: “Our forces control the last neighbourhood in
Sirte. The city has been liberated.”
Gaddafi came to power in Libya in 1969. He was toppled by the uprising that
began in February after 42 years of rule.
The International Criminal Court had been seeking his arrest.