SIRTE, Libya (Reuters) - Muammar Gaddafi is dead, Libya's new leaders
said, killed by fighters who overran his hometown and final bastion
on Thursday. His bloodied body was stripped and displayed around the
world from cellphone video.
Senior officials in the interim government, which ended his 42-year rule two months ago but had labored to subdue thousands of diehard loyalists, said his death opened the way for a declaration of "liberation" after eight months of war.
His body was expected in the long-standing rebel stronghold of Misrata, officials said as their Western sponsors held off from
Senior officials in the interim government, which ended his 42-year rule two months ago but had labored to subdue thousands of diehard loyalists, said his death opened the way for a declaration of "liberation" after eight months of war.
His body was expected in the long-standing rebel stronghold of Misrata, officials said as their Western sponsors held off from
confirming that Gaddafi, a self-styled king of kings whom they had lately courted after decades of enmity, was dead at 69.
After
Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril confirmed his demise, the new national
flag, resurrected by rebels who forced Gaddafi from his capital
Tripoli in August, filled streets and squares as jubilant crowds
whooped for joy and fired in the air.
In
Sirte, a one-time fishing village and Gaddafi's hometown that
grandiose schemes had styled a new "capital of Africa," fighters
danced, brandishing a golden pistol they said they had taken from
Gaddafi.
Accounts were hazy of his final hours, which also appeared to have cost the lives of senior aides. But top officials of the National Transitional Council, including Abdel Majid Mlegta, said he had died of wounds sustained in clashes.
FINAL HOURS
One possible description, pieced together from various sources, suggests that Gaddafi may have tried to break out of his final redoubt at dawn in a convoy of vehicles after weeks of dogged resistance. However, he was stopped by a NATO airstrike and captured, possibly
Accounts were hazy of his final hours, which also appeared to have cost the lives of senior aides. But top officials of the National Transitional Council, including Abdel Majid Mlegta, said he had died of wounds sustained in clashes.
FINAL HOURS
One possible description, pieced together from various sources, suggests that Gaddafi may have tried to break out of his final redoubt at dawn in a convoy of vehicles after weeks of dogged resistance. However, he was stopped by a NATO airstrike and captured, possibly
three or four hours later, after gunbattles with NTC fighters who found him hiding in a drainage culvert.
NATO
said its warplanes fired on a convoy near Sirte about 8:30 a.m. (2:30
a.m. EDT), striking two military vehicles in the group, but could not
confirm that Gaddafi had been a passenger.Accounts from his enemies suggested his capture, and death soon after from wounds, may have taken place around noon.
One of Gaddafi's sons, heir-apparent Saif al-Islam, was at large, they believed.
NTC official Mlegta told Reuters that Gaddafi had been wounded in both legs early in the morning as he tried to flee in the convoy which NATO warplanes attacked
"He was also hit in his head," he said
ليست هناك تعليقات:
إرسال تعليق