October 20, 2011 7:47 AM

Libyan officials: Qaddafi killed in Sirte

(CBS/AP) 

Fugitive Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi was killed in fighting around his hometown Thursday, Libya's prime minister confirmed after hours of speculation surrounding his death.

"We have been waiting for this moment for a long time. Muammar Qaddafi has been killed," Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril told a news conference in the capital Tripoli.

Libyan fighters captured Sirte, Qaddafi's hometown and the last bastion of loyalist resistance, earlier Thursday. Shortly after, reports of Qaddafi's capture and subsequent death began to swirl.

The 69-year-old Qaddafi is the first leader to be killed in the Arab Spring wave of popular uprisings that swept the Midde East, demanding the end of autocratic rulers and greater democracy. Qaddafi had been one of the world's most mercurial leaders, dominating Libya with a regime that often seemed run by his whims and bringing international condemnation and isolation on his country for years.

Initial reports from fighters said Qaddafi had been barricaded in with his heavily armed loyalists in the last few buildings they held in his Mediterranean coastal hometown of Sirte, furiously battling with revolutionary fighters closing in on them Thursday. At one point, a convoy tried to flee the area and was blasted by NATO airstrikes, though it was not clear if Qaddafi was in the vehicles. Details of his death remained unverified.

Al-Jazeera TV showed footage of a man resembling the 69-year-old Qaddafi lying dead or severely wounded, bleeding from the head and stripped to the waist as fighters rolled him over on the pavement.

The body was then taken to the nearby city of Misrata, which Qaddafi's forces besieged for months in one of the bloodiest fronts of the civil war. Al-Arabiya TV showed footage of Qaddafi's bloodied body carried on the top of a vehicle surrounded by a large crowd chanting, "The blood of the martyrs will not go in vain."

A cell phone picture reportedly taken in Sirte apparently shows Qaddafi covered in blood after being dragged through the streets.

Imad Moustaf, a rebel fighter who said he witnessed Qaddafi's death, told GlobalPost's James Foley that Qaddafi was shot in the head and near his heart on the outskirts of Sirte. Moustaf said the former leader had been hiding in a hole surrounded by bodyguards.

Another fighter told the BBC that Qaddafi yelled out "don't shoot" after being discovered.

According to the Telegraph's Ben Farmer, who has been to the site in Sirte where Qaddafi was found, Qaddafi and his bodyguards had taken refuge in a drain after their convoy was struck by a NATO airstrike and were discovered there by TNC fighters.

NATO did acknowledge it hit a convoy of Qaddafi's loyalists fleeing Sirte on Thursday morning but had not confirmed whether the ousted Libyan leader was in the convoy or had been possibly killed or captured.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, speaking from Afghanistan, told CBS News correspondent Whit Johnson that the capture Qaddafi would be a significant development in Libya, but also said she did not expect his capture would end the fighting there.

Clinton spoke before the U.S. was informed that Qaddafi had been confirmed dead.

Celebratory gunfire and cries of "Allahu Akbar" or "God is Great" rang out across the capital Tripoli. Cars honked their horns and people hugged each other. In Sirte, the ecstatic former rebels celebrated the city's fall after weeks of bloody siege by firing endless rounds into the sky, pumping their guns, knives and even a meat cleaver in the air and singing the national anthem.

Libya's new leaders had said they would declare the country's "liberation" after the fall of Sirte.

The death of Qaddafi adds greater solidity to that declaration.

It rules out a scenario that some had feared — that he might flee deeper into Libya's southern deserts and lead a resistance campaign against Libya's rulers. The fate of two of his sons, Seif al-Islam and Muatassim, as well as some top figures of his regime remains unknown, but their ability to rally loyalists would be deeply undermined with Qaddafi's loss.

Information Minister Mahmoud Shammam said he was told that Qaddafi was dead from fighters who said they saw the body.

"Our people in Sirte saw the body," Shammam told The Associated Press. "Revolutionaries say Qaddafi was in a convoy and that they attacked the convoy."

Sirte's fall caps weeks of heavy, street-by-street fighting as revolutionary fighters besieged the city. Despite the fall of Tripoli on Aug. 21, Qaddafi loyalists mounted fierce resistance in several areas, including Sirte, preventing Libya's new leaders from declaring full victory in the eight-month civil war. Earlier this week, revolutionary fighters gained control of one stronghold, Bani Walid.

By Tuesday, fighters said they had squeezed Qaddafi's forces in Sirte into a residential area of about 700 square yards but were still coming under heavy fire from surrounding buildings.

In an illustration of how heavy the fighting has been, it took the anti-Qaddafi fighters two days to capture a single residential building.

Reporters at the scene watched as the final assault began around 8 a.m. Thursday and ended about 90 minutes later. Just before the battle, about five carloads of Qaddafi loyalists tried to flee the enclave down the coastal highway that leads out of the city. But they were met by gunfire from the revolutionaries, who killed at least 20 of them.

The Misrata Military Council, one of the command groups, said its fighters captured Qaddafi.

Another commander, Abdel-Basit Haroun, said Qaddafi was killed when the airstrike hit the fleeing convoy.

One fighter who said he was at the battle told AP Television News that the final fight took place at an opulent compound for visiting dignitaries built by Qaddafi's regime. Adel Busamir said the convoy tried to break out but after being hit it turned back and re-entered the compound. Several hundred fighters assaulted.

"We found him there," Busamir said. "We saw them beating him (Qaddafi) and someone shot him with a 9mm pistol ... then they took him away."

Military spokesman Col. Ahmed Bani in Tripoli told Al-Jazeera TV that a wounded Qaddafi "tried to resist (revolutionary forces) so they took him down."

"I reassure everyone that this story has ended and this book has closed," he said.

After the battle, revolutionaries began searching homes and buildings looking for any hiding Qaddafi fighters. At least 16 were captured, along with cases of ammunition and trucks loaded with weapons. Reporters saw revolutionaries beating captured Qaddafi men in the back of trucks and officers intervening to stop them.

In the central quarter where Thursday's final battle took place, the fighters looking like the same ragtag force that started the uprising eight months ago jumped up and down with joy and flashed V-for-victory signs. Some burned the green Qaddafi flag, then stepped on it with their boots.

They chanted "Allah akbar," or "God is great" in Arabic, while one fighter climbed a traffic light pole to unfurl the revolution's flag, which he first kissed. Discarded military uniforms of Qaddafi's fighters littered the streets. One revolutionary fighter waved a silver trophy in the air while another held up a box of firecrackers, then set them off.

"Our forces control the last neighborhood in Sirte," Hassan Draoua, a member of Libya's interim National Transitional Council, told The Associated Press in Tripoli. "The city has been liberated."

© 2011 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Add a Comment See all 130 Comments
by Brokennews October 20, 2011 11:04 AM EDT
I'm kinda curious if they will dispose of his carcass at some undisclosed location to avoid having some creepy holy site for his fans & followers.

Another sea dump for yet another former thug?
Reply to this comment
by zoharme October 20, 2011 10:56 AM EDT
'Obtuse angle kaput'
www.zoharme.com
Graphic Commentary on Qaddafi
Reply to this comment
by 1pheasant1 October 20, 2011 10:56 AM EDT
by brianbwb2015 October 20, 2011 9:58 AM EDT

Darn right, what Hitler did to his citizens, or to European countries was between him and his citizens, or those countries, it was none of our business.

****************************************************

It sounds like the words of a Qaddafi loyalist. You might want to take the next flight out of Libya, Brian. You should probably come out of hiding and turn yourself in to the I.C.C.
Reply to this comment
by brianbwb2015 October 20, 2011 11:10 AM EDT
Any actual point to present? you read like the common bagger here, who cannot back up spew with facts, and having been thoroughly rebutted, resorts to lame insult and nothing more.

When I see this, I usually post "Boom, boom, boom... and another one bites the dust..."
by Jazzrgirl October 20, 2011 10:51 AM EDT
I am appalled at the graphics you have on this site & the video shown as well as on TV. It's a disgrace and a disrespect to the human race. My husband & I are in shock this network would display such pictures & video of a dead human being..being mistreated nonetheless. We are well aware of who this man is & what he has done but that doesn't give this network the right to display such graphics...especially at this time when children are watching television. A complete disgrace. Other networks have taken down their pictures/video. Unbelieveable!
Reply to this comment
by Brokennews October 20, 2011 10:54 AM EDT
Really?

I've been surfing quite a few news sites & as far as I can tell most are still posting the same pics & vids.

What are these sites that you are reffering to?
by Jazzrgirl October 20, 2011 11:08 AM EDT
I looked on the msnbc website after I saw it on cbs & saw that they changed their pics/video around. When I first went on it the graphic was right there...I went back on after looking @ cbs & it was moved & a comment was made that the pics/video "have been removed". Now I went back on & it's there but you need to click on it to actually see it. YOU make that decision to see as it should be ...it shouldn't be the first things you are forced to see on the site--whether it's breaking news or not.There was no disclaimer on tv either saying what you are about to see is graphic & can be offensive. Disgraceful.
by RedDeath50 October 20, 2011 10:50 AM EDT
So we want proof Qaddafi is dead?

Why wasn't the same standard used with bin Laden? Where's the proof that he was killed in the manner the US government claims? Or even proof that he was killed?

Sounds like total BS!
Reply to this comment
by skyk1 October 20, 2011 10:56 AM EDT
RedDeath50, grow up will you!! OUR Troops killed Bin Laden you pathetic loser! I served with these elite units and to even PRETEND, in some warped way, that they would lie about killing him is about as warped as it gets.
by RedDeath50 October 20, 2011 11:01 AM EDT
skyk1, go on and believe every bit of crap the government feeds you! I'm sure you accept the government's explanation of 9/11 verbatim, too.

Idiots like you are the reason this country has failed!
by TStewartIII3 October 20, 2011 10:47 AM EDT
ChickaBOOMer| Qaddafi: Eau de Mort
http://chickaboomer.blogspot.com/2011/10/qaddafi-eau-de-mort.html
Reply to this comment
by workerdroid October 20, 2011 10:43 AM EDT
I hope the report is true and that this pig is actually dead.
Interestingly, a co-worker asked me how I could take such joy in the suffering of another. She said his family must be very sad. I could only stare at her in incredulous disbelief. There are no words....
Reply to this comment
by brianbwb2015 October 20, 2011 11:06 AM EDT
What did Qaddafi ever do to you?
by nottblu October 20, 2011 10:43 AM EDT
I find it intereting that leftwing extremists like brianwb side with dictators and terrorists while vilifying the US efforts for their "removal". Somehow in his twisted world he feels the presense of dictators who facilitate terrorism that kill American troops and innocent civilians, cause unrest in the greater world and torture and kill their own citizens is the right thing to do, his own words say it all! Nothing like showing true colors and his are definitely not red white and blue, in fact trolls like him do not deserve the freedom others have sacrificed and died for, he deserves to live under the thumb of his beloved dictators.
Reply to this comment
by Brokennews October 20, 2011 10:51 AM EDT
Even Charles Manson had his fans & followers!

Shouldn't be a surprise that Qaddafi has some too!
by skyk1 October 20, 2011 10:58 AM EDT
nottblu, this from a pathetic HATER who has NEVER given this President any credit what so ever! Crawl back in your spider hole.
See all 4 Replies
by eteamer October 20, 2011 10:42 AM EDT
Another success for Obama. He has done twice what the bush family couldn't. And again, not one American life lost.
Reply to this comment
by Progress4USA October 20, 2011 10:49 AM EDT
Amen to that! Obama 2012...elect a REAL leader!!!!
by nottblu October 20, 2011 10:58 AM EDT
progress, you should be able to comprehend the fact that OBama has carried on every single policy and tactic established by Bush in the war against terror, from the use of drones, special forces, et al, including keeping Guantanimo open. If not for Bush's policies and his resolve in going after these terrorists despiti the daily critisism from leftwing trolls like yourself there would no successes to date. I find your hypocrisy as extreme as your politics, enough said.
See all 4 Replies
by Brokennews October 20, 2011 10:36 AM EDT
Personally, I think Qaddafi's Zombie Halloween costume will take first place this year!! Very believable! Well done!
Reply to this comment
See all 130 Comments
.
Scroll Left
Scroll Right More »
CBS News on Facebook