The United States is currently checking reports that Libyan dictator Moammar Gadafi has been killed. Libyan Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril said that NTC forces shot and killed Gadhafi today in the town of Sirte.
Jibril said:
“We have been waiting for this moment for a long time. Moammar Gadhafi has been killed. I think it’s for the Libyans to realize that it’s time to start a new Libya, a united Libya, one people, one future.”
Reuters reports that National Transition Council cornered Gadhafi and his men in Sirte on Thursday. Photos and videos of Gadhafi’s bloody body were displayed around the world shortly after his death as celebrations erupted in the streets of Tripoli.
Details of Gadhafi’s demise are sketchy at the moment. According to Reuters, Gadhafi tried to escape his hideout in a convoy vehicle buta NATO airstrike stopped him in his tracks. After three or four hours of gun fire with NTC fighters, Gadhafi was dead.
NTC official Abdel Hafez Ghoga told AFP:
“We announce to the world that Gaddafi has been killed at the hands of the revolution. It is an historic moment. It is the end of tyranny and dictatorship. Gaddafi has met his fate.”
Here’s a news report from the Associated Press.
Gadhafi gained control of Libya in 1969 after a military coup. He was wanted by the International Criminal Court for ordering the death of civilians.
Do you think that Moammar Gadhafi is really dead? Are you happy that the former Libyan leader was killed?