Muammar Gaddafi Dead: Libyan Forces Claim to Have Captured Deposed Leader
Former Libyan leader Col. Muammar Gaddafi has been captured and killed in his hometown of Sirte, according to some reports.
The Libyan television station Al-Ahrar reported on Thursday that revolutionary fighters have finally seized Sirte and in the process captured the long sought after Gaddafi.
Furthermore, a National Transitional Council official, Abdel Majid Mledgta, told Reuters that the former leader was captured and wounded in both legs early Thursday morning.
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The official said, "He was also hit in his head. There was a lot of firing against his group and he died."
The report has yet to be independently confirmed. However, a plethora of reports have come out to say that the former Libyan leader is in fact dead.
A picture taken on a cell phone has also been released by the AFP in which the dead body looks strikingly similar to the former ruler.
However, a National Transitional Council military spokesman told CNN that reports of Gaddafi’s capture are only rumors.
The U.S. State Department has yet to confirm reports of Gaddafi's death.
Upon news of the announcement, the streets of Tripoli went into celebratory mode with horns blaring and shots of celebratory gunfire shot into the air.
In August some members of the Gaddafi family fled to Algeria while the strongman’s whereabouts remained unknown.
Gaddafi, who led Libya for 42 years, remained in hiding since rebel forces seized the capital of Tripoli and only emerged to call upon his loyalists to to take back the country from devils and traitors.
Rumors circulated about where the strongman could be with some suggesting that he could be as far away as Venezuela or as near by as Burkina Faso.
Gaddafi is wanted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, for crimes against humanity. It was believed that after rebels captured Tripoli and were unable to find Gaddafi there, that he was hiding in his hometown of Sirte.
