MUAMMAR GADDAFI KILLED

MUAMMAR GADDAFI KILLED

Muammar Qadhafi, who ruled Libya with a dictatorial grip for 42 years until he was ousted by rebels in a bloody civil war, was killed on 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 Mr. Qadhafi had been killed. “We have been waiting for this moment for a long time. Muammar Qadhafi has been killed,” Mr. Jibril told a news conference in the capital Tripoli. Initial reports from fighters said Mr. Qadhafi 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 Mr.Qadhafi was in the vehicle.

Al—Jazeera TV showed footage of a man resembling the 69—year—old Qadhafi 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 Mr. Qadhafi 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 Mr.Qadhafi’s loss. Information Minister Mahmoud Shammam said he was told that Mr. Qadhafi was dead from fighters who said they saw the body.

“Our people in Sirte saw the body,” Mr. Shammam told The Associated Press. “Revolutionaries say Qadhafi 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, Qadhafi 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. Former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi died of wounds suffered on Thursday,20th October,2011, as fighters battling to complete an eight-month-old uprising against his rule overran his hometown Sirte, Libya's interim rulers said. His killing, which came swiftly after his capture near Sirte, is the most dramatic single development in the Arab Spring revolts that have unseated rulers in Egypt and Tunisia and threatened the grip on power of the leaders of Syria and Yemen.
"He (Gaddafi) was also hit in his head," National Transitional Council official Abdel Majid Mlegta said. "There was a lot of firing against his group and he died."Mlegta said earlier that Gaddafi, who was in his late 60s, was captured and wounded in both legs at dawn on Thursday as he tried to flee in a convoy which NATO warplanes attacked. He said he had been taken away by an ambulance. An anti-Gaddafi fighter said Gaddafi had been found hiding in a hole in the ground and had said "Don't shoot, don't shoot" to the men who grabbed him. His capture followed within minutes of the fall of Sirte, a development that extinguished the last significant resistance by forces loyal to the deposed leader. The capture of Sirte and the death of Gaddafi means Libya's ruling NTC should now begin the task of forging a new democratic system which it had said it would get under way after the city, built as a showpiece for Gaddafi's rule, had fallen.

Gaddafi, wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of ordering the killing of civilians, was toppled by rebel forces on Aug. 23 after 42 years of one-man rule over the oil-producing North African state. NTC fighters hoisted the red, black and green national flag above a large utilities building in the centre of a newly-captured Sirte neighbourhood and celebratory gunfire broke out among their ecstatic and relieved comrades. Hundreds of NTC troops had surrounded the Mediterranean coastal town for weeks in a chaotic struggle that killed and wounded scores of the besieging forces and an unknown number of defenders. NTC fighters said there were a large number of corpses inside the last redoubts of the Gaddafi troops. It was not immediately possible to verify that information Muammar Gaddafi, who ruled Libya with an iron fist for over 40 years, was killed Thursday,20th October,2011, after being on the run for some two months when he repeatedly vowed to keep fighting until death. The eccentric 69-year-old, who preached a strange cocktail of ideology based on Islam and socialism, died in his hometown Sirte, apparently after being wounded in the legs.A fighter from the National Transitional Council (NTC) told BBC that Gaddafi cried for mercy as the forces advanced menacingly. "Don't shoot," he pleaded while hiding in a hole.There were other versions of his final moments too.

Tens of thousands of Libyans took to the streets across the country to celebrate as news of the former dictator's death spread. Gunmen fired away in the air. Motorists constantly honked while some played music.Cries of "Allah Akbar" (God is Great) rent the air.Gaddafi's death marked the end of a prolonged revolt that began in Benghazi in February, inspired in part by the popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.Gaddafi used strong arm methods to put down the rebellion, and it looked initially that he may succeed. But the US and other Western countries came out strongly in favour of NTC, sealing Gaddafi's fate. From Aug 23, as the rebels seized Tripoli, Gaddafi was on the run. He kept issuing statements from hideouts. There were conflicting versions of how he died. One account said he bled to death while being taken away to Misrata town. Other reports said he was shot in the head. Yet another version said he was slain while fleeing.Television channels flashed images of a bloodied Gaddafi leaning against a fighter. Another picture showed him sprawled on the ground, dead.

                                                                                        Prof. John Kurakar