MUAMMAR GADDAFI IS DEAD

Muammar Gaddafi has been killed
after National Transitional Council
fighters overran loyalist defences
in Sirte, the toppled Libyan leader's
hometown and final stronghold.
"We have been waiting for this
moment for a long time. Muammar
Gaddafi has been killed," Mahmoud
Jibril, the de facto Libyan prime
minister, told reporters on Thursday
in Tripoli, the capital.
Crowds took to the streets of Tripoli
and Benghazi, the eastern city that
spearheaded the uprising against
Gaddafi's 42-year rule in February,
to celebrate the news, with some
firing guns and waving Libya's
new flag.
Abdul Hakim Belhaj, an NTC military
chief, said Gaddafi had died of his
wounds after being captured on
Thursday.
The body of the former Libyan
leader was taken to a location
which is being kept secret for
security reasons, Mohamed Abdel
Kafi, an NTC official in the city of
Misrata, told the Reuters news
agency.
Earlier, Abdel Majid,
another NTC official, said the
toppled leader had been wounded in
both legs.
The news came shortly after the
NTC captured Sirte after weeks of
fierce fighting.
"Thank God they have caught this
person. In one hour, Sirte was
liberated," a fighter in the town
said.
Al Jazeera's Tony Birtley, reporting
from Sirte, said Libyans
there celebrating the beginning of a
"new Libya".
"This is bringing a form of closure,"
he said. "Gaddafi stayed true to his
words, that he would stay in Libya
till the end.
"It was surprising to many that he
did actually stay here in Sirte - it's
taken such a bombardment in the
last 13 days. Nothing could survive
in here for very long. I think they
were starved of food, starved of
ammunition, and finally there was
nothing to do but to run".