Early Thursday morning, reports started emerging out of Libya that former strongman Moammar Gadhafi had been killed in a NATO-led airstrike. Later in the day, opposition National Transitional Council leader and interim government prime minister Mustafa Abdel-Jalil confirmed reports of Gadhafi's death, according to the Associated Press. NATO and the White House have yet to independently confirm the reports.
The NTC information minister told Reuters, "He was killed in an attack by the fighters. There is footage of that." If the news is confirmed, the episode would make Gadhafi the first leader killed as a result of the Arab Spring uprisings, the Associated Press notes in its obituary of the leader, which it published at 10:53 EST.
According to reports from multiple sources, Gadhafi was fleeing a NATO-led rebel attack on the former leader's hometown of Sirte, which had been a last remaining stronghold for Gadhafi forces. According to the Reuters' report, the rebels found the former Libyan strongman hiding in a hole in the ground; the rebel fighter who found Gadhafi said that the Libyan leader repeated "Don't shoot, don't shoot" upon his capture. The BBC reported that the same rebel fighter was "brandishing" a golden pistol which he said belonged to the Libyan strongman.
Deposed Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi has been killed, interim Libyan Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril told reporters in Tripoli on Thursday. There are conflicting reports surrounding the circumstances of his killing, which reportedly happened in or near Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte on Thursday. Libya's ambassador to the United Kingdom says that Gadhafi's body is in Misrata, Libya.
A different source – a spokesman for a member of the Tripoli military council – says that one of Gadhafi's sons, Mutassim, and Moammar Gadhafi's chief of intelligence, Abdullah al-Senussi, also have been killed.
A grisly video that aired on the Al Jazeera Arabic network appears to show a lifeless Gadhafi with a wound to his head (see top of post). A photograph distributed by the news agency Agence France-Presse also appeared to show the longtime dictator severely wounded. CNN could not independently verify the authenticity of the images.
In another major development, revolutionary fighters said they wrested control of Sirte on Thursday. And NATO said it is going to convene soon for a meeting to discuss ending its operation in Libya, a source told CNN.
This story is fast developing. Moammar Gadhafi, 69, was in power for 42 years before being ousted in an uprising this year.
[Update 12:57 p.m. ET] U.S. President Barack Obama will make a statement in the White House Rose Garden at 2 p.m. ET on Thursday, the White House announced.
U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, said Moammar Gadhafi's death "clears the way for the Transitional National Council in Libya to begin to put together a representative government."
"A number of the people who led the Transitional National Council were educated in the United States and we are obviously hopeful that, that they will want to have a representative government and they will be an ally of the United States," said McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky.
[Update 12:37 p.m. ET] TV networks Al Jazeera Arabic and Al Rabiya are showing video of someone who appears to be Moamaar Gadhafi wounded – but still alive – and surrounded by fighters.
Video that Al Jazeera aired earlier today shows what appears to be Gadhafi's lifeless body.
Conflicting reports have been made regarding how Gadhafi died on Thursday. Libyan Information Minister Mahmoud Shammam told CNN that revolutionary fighters attacked a house where Gadhafi was hiding, and that Gadhafi was shot while trying to flee.
Guma el-Gamaty, a Libyan political activist and former London coordinator for Libya's National Transitional Council, told CNN from London that Gadhafi was conscious and was talking shortly after he was injured. El-Gamaty, citing leaders of anti-Gadhafi forces, also said that Gadhafi was injured as he resisted attempts to capture him.
Gadhafi said, “who are you, what’s going on?” after he was injured, but died later, according to el-Gamaty, who cited anti-Gadhafi forces. El-Gamaty said Gadhafi died as he was being transported to a hospital in Misrata.
[Update 12:20 p.m. ET] German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the death of Moammar Gadhafi on Thursday is "important" for Libyans.
"A bloody war which Gadhafi waged against his own people now comes to a close. The way is finally clear for a new and peaceful political beginning," she said.
[Update 12:17 p.m. ET] French President Nicolas Sarkozy's office called Moammar Gadhafi's "disappearance" Thursday a "major step" in the struggle by Libyans to "free themselves from dictatorship and violence."
[Update 11:50 a.m. ET] David Gergen, a CNN senior political analyst and an adviser to four U.S. presidents, reacted to Gadhafi’s death: “Thank goodness. The world is rid of a tyrant,” he told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.
Gadhafi's death “does promise something new” for Libya, and the Libyans “deserve” this news, Gergen said. However, Gergen cautioned that the death doesn’t bring stability to Libya or the region.
[Update 11:46 a.m. ET] Moammar Gadhafi "was not killed in an airstrike," interim Libyan Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril said Thursday in Tripoli.
Conflicting reports have been made regarding how and where Gadhafi died. Libyan Information Minister Mahmoud Shammam told CNN that revolutionary fighters attacked a house where Gadhafi was hiding, and that Gadhafi was shot while trying to flee.
NATO has said that its aircraft struck two pro-Gadhafi military vehicles in the vicinity of Sirte. It's unclear whether that had any role in Gadhafi's death.
[Update 11:45 a.m. ET] U.S. Sen. John McCain said of reports of Gadhafi's death: "I think it's a great day."
The United States has been part of a NATO military mission enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya since the early days of 2011's Libyan revolt against Gadhafi. McCain said that when he and other lawmakers visited Tripoli to speak with anti-Gadhafi officials after Gadhafi's overthrow, those officials said that they would seriously consider reimbursing the United States for its efforts. The amount that the Libyans said they would try to give back to the United States is approximately $1 billion, McCain told CNN's Wolf Blitzer.
U.S. Defense Department costs for operations in Libya stand at about $1.1 billion as of September 30, according to Pentagon spokesman George Little. That includes daily military operations, munitions, the drawdown of supplies and humanitarian assistance.
McCain said that the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama "deserves credit" for how the crisis in Libya has been handled.
[Update 11:35 a.m. ET] U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Gadhafi's death "marks a historic transition for Libya."
"In the coming days, we will witness scenes of celebration, as well as grief for those who lost so much. Yet let us recognize, immediately, that this is only the end of the beginning," Ban said, referring in part to the work that Libya's anti-Gadhafi movement still has to do to transition from Gadhafi's regime. "The road ahead for Libya and its people will be difficult and full of challenges.".
[Update 11:27 a.m. ET] Streets in Libya's capital, Tripoli, are jammed with people who are celebrating, CNN's Dan Rivers reports from the city. Gunfire – presumably celebratory – can be heard. Video from Tripoli shows many people waving the flag that Libya's National Transitional Council adopted after Gadhafi's ouster.
[Update 11:21 a.m. ET] A pro-Moammar Gadhafi channel, Al-Rai, is now reporting the death of the former Libyan leader, citing NATO sources.
[Update 11:02 a.m. ET] The Libyan ambassador to the United Kingdom confirmed Moammar Gadhafi's death Thursday and said his body is in the Libyan city of Misrata.
News of the ambassador's comments comes minutes after the interim Libyan prime minister announced Gadhafi's death.
[Update 10:59 a.m. ET] The son of a long-missing anti-Gadhafi activist says that reports of Gadhafi’s death are overwhelming to him.
“I can’t explain,” Ahmed Almegaryaf said. “[It is] something I’ve been wanting to hear all my life. Hopefully it really was him that was captured.”
Almegaryaf is the son of Izzat Almegaryaf, who the son says was captured by Egyptian security services in 1990 and handed over to the Libyans. He said he has not heard from his father since.
Almegaryaf said he that even if his father is dead, Izzat Almegaryaf will be “smiling down” on Libya if Gadhafi is gone. Read more about Almegaryaf.
[Update 10:54 a.m. ET] NATO's top military official, Supreme Allied Commander Adm. James Stavridis, will call for a special session to address ending the NATO mission in Libya, a senior NATO official says, according to CNN's Barbara Starr.
“It will be very soon, perhaps next day or two. (Stavridis) will give a recommendation and a special session of the NAC will be convened," the official said.
Stavridis is now looking at “key pieces of intelligence” to make that recommendation, according to the official. That will include assessing whether anti-Gadhafi forces control Sirte, and whether Gadhafi loyalists can mount any significant counter-strike.
[Update 10:39 a.m. ET] Gadhafi's son, Mutassim, and his chief of intelligence, Abdullah al-Senussi, have been killed, according to Anees al-Sharif, spokesman for AbdelHakim Belhajj of the Tripoli military council.
This report comes on the day that the interim Libyan prime minister says that Moammar Gadhafi was killed.
[Update 10:36 a.m. ET] Former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi has been killed, interim Libyan Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril told reporters in Tripoli Thursday.
[Update 10:32 a.m. ET] Catherine Ashton, the European Union foreign policy chief, said if the reports of Gadhafi's death are confirmed, his demise "brings closure to a tragic period in the lives of so many Libyans."
She also said that the fall of Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte "marks the end of the Gadhafi era."
"Libya is now under the full control of National Transitional Council forces," she said.
[Update 10:22 a.m. ET] Guma el-Gamaty, a Libyan political activist and former London coordinator for Libya's National Transitional Council, told CNN from London that leaders of anti-Gadhafi forces told him that Gadhafi was conscious and was talking shortly after he was injured.
Gadhafi said, “who are you, what’s going on?” but died later, according to el-Gamaty, who cited anti-Gadhafi forces. He said Gadhafi was injured as he resisted attempts to capture him.
[Update 10:14 a.m. ET] CNN's Ben Wedeman, who has covered the uprising in Libya for months, said one of the biggest risks for Libya moving forward is a strong impulse among revolutionary fighters and political leaders to commit revenge killings in an attempt to get rid of leftover elements of Gadhafi’s regime. Rioting and looting, thanks to overall instability, could follow, Wedeman said.
Former Gadhafi aide Abubaker Saad, now a professor of Middle Eastern history at Western Connecticut State University, told CNN that he is more optimistic about how Gadhafi's alleged death would affect Libya. He said on CNN that Libya's National Transitional Council is "really thirsty" to enact democratic reforms in the country.Saad said positive change will happen, but he added that it would be "foolish" to expect "smooth sailing" in a country which has been ruled for more than four decades by a dictator.
[Update 10:07 a.m. ET] Cell phone video aired by Arabic language TV network Al Jazeera appears to show Gadhafi's bloody body.
[Update 10 a.m. ET] CNN's Phil Black, reporting from the British prime minister's residence in London, says that the British government is making no comment about reports of Gadhafi's death, and that it's unlikely they would do so before Washington.
Moammar Gadhafi, who ruled Libya with a dictatorial grip for 42 years until he was ousted by rebels in a bloody civil war, was killed Thursday when revolutionary forces overwhelmed his hometown, Sirte, the last major bastion of resistance.
Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, the most wanted man in the world, has been killed, Libyan Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril said today.
The flamboyant tyrant who terrorized his country and much of the world during his 42 years of despotic rule was reportedly cornered by insurgents in the town of Sirte, where Gadhafi had been born and a stronghold of his supporters.
"We have been waiting for this moment for a long time. Moammar Gadhafi has been killed," Jibril said at a news conference in Tripoli.
He added that the rebel government will wait until later today or Friday to officially declare what it calls a state of liberation.
The National Transition Council earlier today said that its fighters found and shot Gadhafi in Sirte, which finally fell to the rebels today after weeks of tough fighting. Rebels now control the entire country.
Word of Gadhafi's death triggered celebrations in the streets of Tripoli with insurgent fighters waving their weapons and dancing jubilantly.
The White House and NATO said they were unable to confirm reports of his death.
Al Jazeera aired video of what appeared to be the dead leader, which showed Gadhafi lying in a pool of blood in the street, shirtless, and surrounded by people.
Libya's Information Minister Mahmoud Shammam told the Associated Press that Gadhafi was in a convoy when he was attacked by rebels.
NATO said that its jet fighters struck a convoy of Gadhafi's loyalists fleeing Sirte this morning, but could not confirm that Gadhafi was in the convoy, the Associated Press reported.
Warning: Graphic Photo of an Injured Gadhafi
Gadhafi had been on the run for weeks after being chased out of the capital Tripoli by NATO bombers and rebel troops.
He had been believed to be hiding in the vast Libyan desert while calling on his supporters to rise up and sweep the rebel "dogs" away, but his once fearsome power was scoffed at by Libyans who had ransacked his palace compound and hounded him into hiding.
Gadhafi, 69, ruled Libya with an iron fist for almost 42 years. He seized control of Libya in Sept., 1969 in a bloodless coup when he was just 27 years old. The then young and dashing army captain and his small band of military officers overthrew the monarch King Idris, setting up a new Libyan Arab Republic that over the years became increasingly isolated from the rest of the world.
Gadhafi took over the top spot as the world's most wanted man after Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. troops in Pakistan.
At the height of his ability to threaten terrorism, President Ronald Reagan dubbed Gadhafi the "mad dog of the Middle East."
He was accused of backing the 1986 bombing of a Berlin disco popular with American soldiers, reportedly funding the hijacking of the cruise ship Achille Lauro in 1985, and the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which resulted in the U.N. and United States imposing sanctions on Libya.
For years, Gadhafi refused to take responsibility for the bombing, but that changed in 2003 when he acknowledged his role and tried to make amends.
The eccentric leader, who amassed power and wealth by controlling the nation's oil industry, held the title of being the longest-serving leader in Africa and the Arab world.
Over the years, Gadhafi earned an international reputation for his outlandish apparel and much-ridiculed phobias and proclivities.
In U.S. diplomatic cables recently released by WikiLeaks, Gadhafi was described as a "mercurial and eccentric figure who suffers from severe phobias, enjoys flamenco dancing and horse racing, acts on whims and irritates friends and enemies alike."
He was "obsessively dependent on a small core of trusted personnel," especially his longtime Ukrainian nurse Galyna, who has been described as a "voluptuous blonde," according to the cables.
Among his other unusual behaviors, the Libyan leader reportedly feared flying over water, didn't like staying on upper floors and traveled with a "pistol packing' posse" of female bodyguards.
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