20 October 2011 Last updated at 13:06 ET

Reacting to the news of Col Gaddafi's death, US Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney says: "This was a tyrant who has been killing his own people, and, of course, is responsible for the lives of American citizens lost in the Lockerbie attack. And I think people across the world recognise that the world is a better place without Muammar Gaddafi."

The Pentagon has said it is not clear if Col Gaddafi was part of a convoy bombed by Nato aircraft on Thursday morning. "We know there was an air strike on a small convoy of vehicles that were deemed to be and in the act of threatening Libyan civilians" outside of Sirte, spokesman Capt John Kirby told reporters. "But there's no indication or identification of the people that were in that convoy," Mr Kirby said.

UK Foreign Secretary William Hague says the Nato countries never doubted that military action was the right thing for Libya: "We knew we had to act to save civilian life - that's what we did and I think we felt vindicated all along, because Libya does now have the opportunity to become a free and democratic country, on far better terms with its neighbours and the rest of the world than was ever the case under Col Gaddafi."

The NTC's Qatar-based Libya TV, also known as Libya al-Ahrar, has reported that Col Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam has been killed. The report has not been confirmed. Earlier reports suggested his convoy had been surrounded by NTC fighters in southern Libya.

More on the images carried by al-Jazeera, which appear to show Col Gaddafi before he died. The former Libyan leader was shown with a bloody face, being manhandled by a group of NTC fighters. He was seen struggling at one point and being pushed against a car and struck on the head with a pistol, Reuters reports. Al-Jazeera said the pictures were aired by a Libyan TV channel.