Thursday, October 20, 2011

Former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi who died of wounds suffered during a gunbattle to capture him reportedly said "Don't shoot, don't shoot" to the men who grabbed him. However, there was no independent confirmation of his remarks.

Muammar Gaddafi killed in gunbattle: NTC official

Reuters | Oct 20, 2011, 06.02PM IST
Gaddafi killed in gunbattle: 

SIRTE (LIBYA): Muammar Gaddafi was killed on Thursday as Libya's new leaders declared they had overrun the last bastion of his long rule, sparking wild celebrations that eight months of war may finally be over.

Details of the death near Sirte of the fallen strongman were hazy but it was announced by several officials of the National Transitional Council (NTC) and backed up by a photograph of a bloodied face ringed by familiar, Gaddafi-style curly hair. 

"He was killed in an attack by the fighters. There is footage of that," the NTC's information minister, Mahmoud Shammam, told Reuters. 

Western powers, who have backed the rebellion which took the capital Tripoli two months ago, said they were still checking. NATO said its aircraft fired on a convoy near Sirte earlier, but would not confirm reports that Gaddafi had been a passenger. 

Several NTC fighters in Sirte said they had seen Gaddafi shot dead, though their accounts varied.

With a final declaration of the country's "liberation" from 42 years of one-man rule apparently imminent, and crowds firing in the air and dancing in the streets of Tripoli and Benghazi, Libyan television said NTC chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil was about to address the nation. 

The two months since the fall of Tripoli have tested the nerves of the motley alliance of anti-Gaddafi forces and their Western and Arab backers, who had begun to question the ability of the NTC forces to root out diehard Gaddafi loyalists in Sirte and a couple of other towns. 

Officials said some of Gaddafi's entourage had been killed in the same incident, while his son Mo'tassim and other aides were taken prisoner. Another son, Saif -- long the heir-apparent -- was believed by the NTC to be still at large, possibly in the immense southern deserts of the Libyan Sahara. 

ARAB SPRING The death of Gaddafi himself became perhaps the most dramatic development since the Arab Spring revolts that have unseated rulers in neighbouring Tunisia and Egypt and threaten the grip on power of the leaders of Syria and Yemen. 

"He (Gaddafi) was also hit in his head," NTC official Abdel Majid Mlegta told Reuters. "There was a lot of firing against his group and he died." 

Mlegta told Reuters earlier that Gaddafi, who was in his late 60s, was captured and wounded in both legs at dawn on Thursday as he tried to flee in a convoy which NATO warplanes attacked. He said he had been taken away by an ambulance. 

An NTC fighter in Sirte said he had seen Gaddafi shot after he was cornered and captured in a tunnel near a roadway. 

The capture of Sirte means Libya's ruling NTC should now begin the task of forging a new democratic system which it had said it would get under way after the city, Gaddafi's hometown rebuilt as a showpiece for his rule, had fallen. 

As potentially vast revenues from oil and gas begin to roll in again, Libya's six million people, scattered in towns spread across wide deserts, face a major task in organising a new system of government that can allocate resources across long-competing tribal, ethnic and regional divisions. 

Gaddafi, wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of ordering the killing of civilians, was toppled by rebel forces on Aug. 23, a week short of the 42nd anniversary of the military coup which brought him to power in 1969. 

NTC fighters hoisted the red, black and green national flag above a large utilities building in the centre of a newly-captured Sirte neighbourhood and celebratory gunfire broke out among their ecstatic and relieved comrades. 

Hundreds of NTC troops had surrounded the Mediterranean coastal town for weeks in a chaotic struggle that killed and wounded scores of the besieging forces and an unknown number of defenders. 

NTC fighters said there were a large number of corpses inside the last redoubts of the Gaddafi troops. It was not immediately possible to verify that information.


'Gaddafi found hiding in a hole and said don't shoot, don't shoot'

Reuters | Oct 20, 2011, 06.38PM IST
Gaddafi was also hit in his head according to National Transitional Council official Abdel Majid Mlegta.
SIRTE ( LIBYA): Former Libyan leaderMuammar Gaddafi who died of wounds suffered during a gunbattle to capture him reportedly said "Don't shoot, don't shoot" to the men who grabbed him. However, there was no independent confirmation of his remarks. 

His killing, which came swiftly after his capture near Sirte, is the most dramatic single development in the Arab Spring revolts that have unseated rulers in Egypt and Tunisia and threatened the grip on power of the leaders ofSyria and Yemen. 

"He (Gaddafi) was also hit in his head," National Transitional Council official Abdel Majid Mlegta told Reuters. "There was a lot of firing against his group and he died." 

Mlegta told Reuters earlier that Gaddafi, who was in his late 60s, was captured and wounded in both legs at dawn on Thursday as he tried to flee in a convoy which NATO warplanes attacked. He said he had been taken away by an ambulance. 

There was no independent confirmation of his remarks. An anti-Gaddafi fighter said Gaddafi had been found hiding in a hole in the ground and had said "Don't shoot, don't shoot" to the men who grabbed him. 

His capture followed within minutes of the fall of Sirte, a development that extinguished the last significant resistance by forces loyal to the deposed leader. 

The capture of Sirte and the death of Gaddafi means Libya's ruling NTC should now begin the task of forging a new democratic system which it had said it would get under way after the city, built as a showpiece for Gaddafi's rule, had fallen. 

Gaddafi, wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of ordering the killing of civilians, was toppled by rebel forces on Aug. 23 after 42 years of one-man rule over the oil-producing North African state. 

NTC fighters hoisted the red, black and green national flag above a large utilities building in the centre of a newly-captured Sirte neighbourhood and celebratory gunfire broke out among their ecstatic and relieved comrades. 

Hundreds of NTC troops had surrounded the Mediterranean coastal town for weeks in a chaotic struggle that killed and wounded scores of the besieging forces and an unknown number of defenders. 

NTC fighters said there were a large number of corpses inside the last redoubts of the Gaddafi troops. It was not immediately possible to verify that information. 
Breaking News: Al Qathafi Killed in Gun Battle in Sirte.
20/10/2011 15:14:00
The National Transitional military chief, Abdul Hakim Belhaj, has confirmed that former Libyan dictator, Muammar Al Qathafi has died of his wounds after being captured near his hometown of Sirte following a gun battle. As such, Sirte appears to have been, not only been his birthplace, but also his grave.

Meanwhile, NTC chief Mustafa Abdul-Jalil is due to address the Libyan nation shortly, when he is expected to confirm the news. 

Earlier, unconfirmed reports from Libya indicated that Al Qathafi had been captured and later killed after the revolutionaries captured Al Qathafi's hometown of Sirte, the final stronghold of his loyalists. 

The first reports of Al Qathafi's death, unconfirmed at the time came when senior NTC official, field commander, Jamal abu-Shaalah told international media that the former leader of his wounds. He also said that the head of his armed forces, Abu Bakr Younis Jabr has also been killed.

National Transitional Council's field commander, Jamal abu-Shaalah, had earlier reported the capture of Al Qathafi, but it was not clear whether he was dead or alive. 

Yet another NTC official, Abdel Majid, was quoted saying: "Al Qathafi is captured and is wounded." First reports indicated he was wounded in both legs and that he had been carried in an ambulance towards hospital 

Abdel Majid said Al Qathafi was trying to flee in a convoy that had been attacked by NATO warplanes, and that Abu Bakr Younis Jabr had been killed during Al Qathafi's capture.

Majid added that NATO warplanes struck the convoy and hit four cars as it headed west. A relative of Al Qathafi, Ahmed Ibrahim, who was responsible for education under the old regime was arrested trying to flee Sirte in that convoy. 

Majid went on to say: "He's captured. He's wounded in both legs ... He's been taken away by ambulance." He added that Younis Jabr, the head of Al Qathafi's armed forces, was killed during the capture of the former leader. Al Qathafi's spokesman Moussa Ibrahim is also said to have been arrested.

The news came shortly after NTC claimed capturing Sirte after weeks of fighting.

Belhaj is the highest NTC official to confirm Al Qathafi's death. Neither NATO nor the US state department could confirm the reports of the capture of Al Qathafi who had not been seen since NTC fighters seized Tripoli, the Libyan capital two months ago.

Sources told tripolipost.com that Al Qathafi's body was being taken to a hospital in Misurata so that the medics could confirm that the dead body truly belongs to the former Libyan leader.

Meanwhile in Benghazi, soon after the reports of Al Qathafi's capture, crowds gathered in the streets started to celebrate. The same in Tripoli, Misurata, and other cities that had suffered so much under the Al Qathafi regime. The sounds of gun shots were heard and people cheered in the street: "God is Great, God is Great, Al Qathafi has been captured."

Sources close to the NTC had been very cautious and wanted to be one hundred percent certain that Al Qathafi had been captured and also killed. They did not want to follow in the same trap as a few weeks ago when fighters announced the "capture" of Al Qathafi's son Seif.

The first hints that Al Qathafi could have been captured was given by National Transitional Council's information minister, Mahmoud Shammam, when he appeared on Al Jazeera and stopped short of confirming the claim, which is being widely reported on Libyan TV.

Asked about the NTC's intentions if Al Qathafi has 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 Al Qathafi stand trial."

Soon after that came the news, as yet unconfirmed, that Al Qathafi had been killed.
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Gaddafi Killed by Rebels in Sirte along with His Defense Minister 
Dictator Muammar Gaddafi of Libya has been killed by rebels in the city of Sirte, 500 miles east of Tripoli. His son Mua'tasm and the defense minster Aboubaker Jaber were also killed.
Al Qathafi Killed With a Shot to the Head 
The National Transitional military chief, Abdul Hakim Belhaj, has confirmed that former Libyan dictator, Muammar Al Qathafi has died of his wounds after being captured near his hometown of Sirte following a gun battle. As such, Sirte appears to have been, not only been his birthplace, but also his grave.
Breaking News: Al Qathafi Killed in Gun Battle in Sirte.
The National Transitional military chief, Abdul Hakim Belhaj, has confirmed that former Libyan dictator, Muammar Al Qathafi has died of his wounds after being captured near his hometown of Sirte following a gun battle. As such, Sirte appears to have been, not only been his birthplace, but also his grave.
http://tripolipost.com/articledetail.asp?c=1&i=7136

It's Qaddafi's Weapons of Mass Destruction That We Need to Worry About Now

By 

Published October 20, 2011

| FoxNews.com

Libya's Transitional National Council reports that Muammar Qaddafi is dead. That's great and welcome news. Finally. And it's especially great if, and we're still sorting this out, it was the Libyans who ended the notorious strongman's life not the United States of America or NATO.

The Libyans, and their new government, are the ones who need to own this war. They don't need the death of Qaddafi to have happened courtesy of the United States and or NATO.

The most pressing question now is what's next for Libya?

We can only hope that the long-suffering and courageous people of Libya can put the hunt for Qaddafi behind them and get on with forming an effective government.

The future is murky but a new chapter is already underway. The hard part is that we''re still not sure who these rebels are and what their connections might be to radical Islamists.

So what does today's news mean for the United States?

First, for President Obama it means that, for better or worse, the White House will take the news of Qaddafi's death as vindication that "leading from behind" works.

Then there's the War on Terror. If you look at the big picture, I'm less concerned with Qaddafi and much more concerned about his weapons of mass destruction. The Libyan strong man reportedly hid WMD around the country. -- I'm thinking of the roughly 20,000 shoulder-fired RPGs and manpads that can take out helicopters and commercial aircraft, whatever fissiles materials are left over from his already dismantled nuclear program (that could still be used to make dirty bombs), and any chemical weapons (for example, could there be mustard gas stockpiled somewhere?) that might be left. These are valuable items for looters and could end up in the international black market, where terrorists go shopping.

Obviously, a lot could go wrong. But if reports are true about Qaddafi's death then one thing has already gone right for Libya today.

Kathleen Troia "K.T." McFarland is a Fox News National Security Analyst and host of FoxNews.com's DefCon 3. She is a Distinguished Adviser to the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies and served in national security posts in the Nixon, Ford and Reagan administrations. She wrote Secretary of Defense Weinberger's November 1984 "Principles of War Speech" which laid out the Weinberger Doctrine. Be sure to watch "K.T." every Wednesday at 2 p.m. ET on FoxNews.com's "DefCon3"-- already one of the Web's most watched national security programs.



Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/10/20/its-qaddafis-weapons-mass-destruction-that-need-to-worry-about-now/#ixzz1bKcUXzhB

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