The image above –taken on a mobile phone — appears to show Muammar Gaddafi being arrested in Sirte.
It is now being reported by major news agencies including Reuters that the former dictator has died of his injuries. Sky News has played a video which appears to show Gaddafi’s body being dragged through the streets of Sirte.
This comes after revolutionaries took Sirte, Gaddafi’s hometown and the final stronghold of his loyalists.
Earlier today, the Information Centre for the Misrata Military Council said:
Now in contact with our correspondent at the front of the Sirte. The tyrant Muammar Gaddafi was arrested. God is great and thank God.
Following this, the National Transitional Council’s information minister, Mahmoud Shammam, appeared on al-Jazeera. He stopped short of confirming the claim — which was being widely reported on Libyan TV — but alluded to the rumour:
I think we can say that Sirte is liberated …I think the celebrations are going on right now. Also there’s big talk about some big fish on their way to Misrata. I cannot confirm anything but people over there are talking they caught a big fish.
Asked about the NTC’s intentions if Gaddafi had been captured, he said:
We are going to put him in front of the court, we’re not going to hang him in the street. We are going to give him the fair trial he never gave the Libyan people. We hope that we are catching some big names so we can put them in the court and let the people have the last word on their fate …I think every Libyan wants to see Gaddafi stand trial.
Abdel Majid, another NTC official, appeared to confirm the capture by telling Reuters that Gaddafi was injured in both legs.
UPDATE – 12.56: Al-Jazeera and Reuters are both reporting that Gaddafi has been killed.
Content from our partners
Related
