Ghoulish scenes as hundreds queue to gawp at Gaddafi's body as it lies in a meat locker

-Gaddafi's body covered, bullet wound to head masked
-Post mortem reveals Libyan leader died from gunshot injuries
-Commander: We wanted him alive but things got out of control
-Wounds on body of Gaddafi's son stitched up
-Family demand body be handed over for burial as row over death intensifies


By Leon Watson

Grisly sight: Shell-shocked Libyans look at the bloodied body of their former leader Muammar Gaddafi and take photos

It was the moment Libyans had been waiting 42 years for - so it was no surprise they wanted to believe it with their own eyes.

Hundreds braved the stench of rotting flesh today to see their hated former dictator's body, and know for sure he is never coming back.

Bloodied, bullet-ridden and left lying on a mattress in a meat locker, Colonel Gaddafi's remains were a grisly, undignified sight.

Undignified end: Gaddafi's head is turned slightly to the left. There are suggestions that this has been done to hide a bullet hole in his skull

Making history: A soldier takes a photograph next to Gaddafi's body. In front are his late Defence Minister Abu-Bakr Yunis Jabr and his son Mutassim

Yet the ghoulish scene didn't stop queues stretching around the block as people flocked to gawp at the toppled tyrant in the coastal city of Misrata.

Fighters put his body on display lying side-by-side with his son, Mutassim, who commanded the defence of Sirte, and Defence Minister Abu-Bakr Yunis Jabr.

In a dank, cold room in the makeshift mortuary, the former leader's body was covered by a blue blanket that left only his head exposed, hiding the bruises on his torso and scratch marks on his chest.

Gaddafi's battered head had been turned to the left, to hide the bullet hole that killed him. Guards overseeing the body had handed out green surgical masks because of the awful smell.

Libya's chief forensic pathologist Dr Othman al-Zintani today said an autopsy had confirmed Gaddafi was killed by a shot to the head, and he also had bullet wounds to the abdomen.

Doctors completed the examination today but Dr al-Zintani would not give more details until he has given his report to the attorney general.

Authorities in Libya want to establish whether he died in crossfire on the way to hospital, as the government has suggested, or whether he was executed by the fighters who caught him.

Rebel fighters claim they captured the 69-year-old alive and then shot him. But this account differs from the National Transitional Council's version, in which Gaddafi died in a gun-fight.

Public spectacle: Young children queue to see the body displayed in a meat locker in Misrata

Grim sight: Libyans wear medical masks as they wait in line to visit Muammar Gaddafi's body in Misrata

Wearing masks because of the stench, Libyans queue to visit their former dictator's body

One rebel today claimed that Gaddafi pleaded for his life, offering them as much gold as they wanted in return for sparing his life.

Hammad Mufti Ali, 28, told Italian daily Corriere Della Sera that a terrified Gaddafi swore he would pay for their children to go to school.

Mr Ali added: 'At one point someone screamed at him that instead of talking about money, as a good Muslim he should have been praying for his soul to be entrusted to God before dying.

'But he just kept saying he was ready to give us lots and lots of money and gold.'

He said that Gaddafi was then dragged on to the truck in scenes seen around the world and 'that's where he died.

'His body just could not take it. He was losing too much blood.'

Gaddafi was said to have more that $200billion in cash and gold hidden away with some of it spread in secret accounts across the world, including in Zimbabwe.

A row has now broken out over what will happen to the tyrant's body next, with his surviving family members demanding it is released so he can be afforded a traditional funeral with 24 hours. His widow Safia has also backed international demands for an inquiry into his killing.

Reports last night suggested the National Transitional Council will hand over the dead dictator's corpse to members of his extended family.

Acting prime minister Mahmoud Jibril said today that investigations into who shot Gaddafi were continuing.

Final hiding place: The inside of a concrete tunnel into which Gaddafi and a small number of body guards crawled into once their convoy had been hit

No escape now: Gaddafi is surrounded by rebels waving AK-47s and walked across the barren desert. His left arm has been wounded, possibly when his convoy of 80 jeeps was hit by air raids


Last gasps of breath: A handgun is pointed at Gaddafi as he lays bleeding on the floor of an ambulance. The next time he was seen in public he was dead
He gave his own account of the likely events leading up to the death of the former Libyan leader.

He said: 'It seems that he was involved in a battle between the Qatari security brigades of Gaddafi and the freedom fighters. And he was hiding in some sort of a sewage tube.

'One of the mercenaries, he's a Mauritanian, when he was caught he told the freedom fighters that Gaddafi was hiding in the tube,' said Mr Jibril.

'So they went there and they brought him out and they were taking him to that truck to take him to a field hospital.

'On their way they got in crossfire between the freedom fighters and the security brigades. He was shot in the head. We don't know whether he was shot by the freedom fighters or the security brigades.'

A local military commander in the city of Misrata, where the force which captured him took his body, said 'over-enthusiastic' fighters took matters into their own hands when they came face to face with their former ruler.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said: 'We wanted to keep him alive but the young guys, things went out of control.'

However, few people in Libya say they are troubled by the manner of his death.


source:dailymail

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A last cigarette and a swig of water, Gaddafi's son Mutassim pictured before he too died of new wounds acquired in captivity

By Sarah Graham


Sitting against a wall and smoking a cigarette while swigging from a bottle of water, his white vest covered in blood, this is Gaddafi's loyal son Mutassim after he was captured by rebels.

Mutassim, a senior army officer and security adviser, was later pictured still alive and lying on a sofa.

The new Libyan government’s TV channel broadcast a close-up showing Mutassim in what appeared to be a hospital.

Scroll down for video of Mutassim while he was still alive

Alive: Mutassim Gaddafi drinks water and smokes a cigarette before his death in Sirte

A wound is visible on Moutassim's neck and his clothes are spattered with blood as he looks resigned to his fate

Moments before death: Mutassim lies on a sofa, his white vest bloodied after his capture

The next time he was to be pictured he would be lying dead on a stretcher having been shot in the throat and abdomen.

The events leading up to Mutassim's death are unclear. A military source in Misrata would only confirm that he was shot in the neck and killed.

Mutassim died alongside his father after they were discovered cowering in a drain under a motorway in Sirte.

‘Mutassim is dead. I can confirm it,’ said government information officer Mahmoud Shammam.

Mutassim had fled to Egypt after masterminding a failed coup against his father. He was forgiven and returned to Gaddafi’s side as national security adviser.

Dead: Gaddafi's son Mutassim was also killed in a firefight in Sirte
Before he was captured by forces loyal to the NTC the circumstances are a little clearer.

A final airstrike was launched after RAF Tornadoes carried out surveillance missions, clearing the way for French fighter jets to bomb a convoy.

Mutassim and his father were both in the convoy which turned back into Sirte which had become overrun by freedom fighters.

Nato, however, was unaware that the dictator was in one of the vehicles.

At least 50 Gaddafi loyalists were killed in the aerial bombardment on around 100 vehicles that were trying to escape the city where the Colonel was born.

His father, with injuries to both legs, escaped with bodyguards through trees until they hid in the concrete sewers where they were spotted by rebels.

Gaddafi’s fifth son, Mutassim enjoyed a notoriously lavish lifestyle that was far removed from the straitened circumstances of most Libyans.

Mutassim’s ex-girlfriend, Dutch glamour model Talitha van Zion, recently told how he would each Christmas fly himself and an entourage to the Caribbean island of St Barts in his private Boeing.

He paid for singers such as Beyonce and Mariah Carey to sing at the Barts parties which were attended by guests such as Jon Bon Jovi, Lindsay Lohan and the rapper Jay-Z.

When he was staying in London or Paris, he would take over several floors of the most expensive hotels, flying in top hairdressers from Italy.

She said Mutassim, who worshipped his father and admired “strong leaders” like Hitler, once told her he spent pounds 1.3 million a month maintaining his hedonistic life.

Talitha escaped from Libya on a humanitarian ship to Malta after rebels captured her and threatened to burn her alive.

She spoke about drinking Jack Daniels and coke with Mutassim as he toasted a victory over the rebels a week before her departure in August.

Talitha had been in the country to visit Mutassim despite the fact that they were no longer in a relationship.


Talitha van Zion, right, fled to Malta in August after fearing that she would be burned alive by NTC fighter





source:dailymail

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Gaddafi's grisly end: Picture shows Libyan dictator dead after being captured by rebels when they finally stormed his last stronghold

-Libyan prime minister confirms that former dictator is dead
-Reports he tried to flee in a convoy which was shelled
-Vehicles were driven back to his compound in Sirte
-Gaddafi in final attempt to flee before final push by rebels
-'Found in a hole' wearing military-style clothing, shouting 'Don't shoot'
-Died after suffering multiple wounds to head and body
-Nato bombed compound in Sirte before capture was announced

By Daily Mail Reporter


Captured image: A mobile phone picture, purporting to be that of wounded leader Muammar Gaddafi, was circulated shortly after the news of his capture broke


Deposed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has been killed, the country's prime minister has confirmed.

As reports of his death emerged, an image was released apparently showing the 69-year-old tyrant slumped against the bloodied legs of a revolutionary fighter.

Mahmoud Jibril later confirmed that the former dictator was dead. Gaddafi is the first leader to be killed in the Arab Spring wave of popular uprisings that swept the Middle East.

Hiding hole: A fighter points to the concrete pipe where Gaddafi was reportedly found. Arabic graffiti in blue reads: 'This is the place of Gaddafi, the rat. God is the greatest'

Gaddafi was found cowering in a hole in the ground at the centre of Sirte, after rebels moved through the seaside town during their final assault.

The revolutionary offensive began around 8am local time and progressed quickly into the town centre.

Gaddafi-loyal forces were holed up in the west of the central Green Square, and Nato airstrikes concentrated on a compound in that area of the town.

National Transitional Council (NTC) soldiers said that a convoy of at least five vehicles tried to leave the town in the early morning, but it came under sustained fire and was forced to return to the loyalist-controlled area.

Reports say that the convoy was fired on again as it returned to western Sirte, and that it was clear that whoever was trying to flee had nowhere else to go.

Gaddaffi was found a short time later in a large storm-water drain, and fighter Mohammed Al Bibi told reporters that the toppled tyrant had pleaded 'Don't shoot, don't shoot' as he attempted to surrender.

He had been wounded in the legs. NTC official Abdel Majid Mlegta said: 'He [Gaddafi] was also hit in his head. There was a lot of firing against his group and he died.'

Mobile phone footage, released shortly after the news of his capture broke, appears to show a bloodied Gaddafi being manhandled.

Al Jazeera was also repeatedly showing footage of what appeared to be Gaddafi's shirtless and lifeless body being dragged along the ground.

Double celebration: Anti-Gaddafi fighters celebrate the fall of Sirte, but the news soon came that the leader himself had been captured

End of conflict: The fall of Sirte ends the last significant resistance by forces loyal to the deposed leader, and ends a two-month siege

Rebels said he had been armed with a golden handgun when he was found and was wearing a khaki uniform. Later images showed young revolutionary soldiers sheering an holding a golden handgun.

Gaddafi and his family have been on the run since Nato and rebel forces started closing the net on Tripoli in mid-August.

The reports of Gaddafi's capture came on the same day that revolutionary forces said that they had taken control of Sirte - the leader's home town.

Initial reports from CNN and the National Transitional Council (NTC) said Gaddafi was in custody, while Al Jazeera reported that a ‘big fish’ had been caught but did not provide a name. Al Jazeera later joined Al-Arabiya in saying that Gaddafi had been killed, but did not provide any further information.

Sky News reported that Gaddafi had been wounded in both legs prior to his capture. He was wearing a military-style uniform.

All that's left: A lone revolutionary soldier fires into the air in celebration. Behind him lies the ruins of a town all but destroyed by fighting

Libya's transitional government forces have taken full control of the city - the last stronghold of Gaddafi loyalists. Gaddafi's presence there would explain why fighting had been so intense in the past few weeks.

Al Jazeera reported spontaneous celebration in cities like Benghazi and Tripoli, with people cheering and shouting, car horns sounding and small arms fire being heard.

After weeks of fierce fighting the NTC announced that it had 'taken control' of the city. But as revolutionary forces celebrated in the city, reports came of Gaddafi's capture.

The NTC said that, in the early hours of the morning, at least five cars carrying loyalist fighters attempted to escape the city.

A senior official with Libya's National Transitional Council told Reuters that Gaddafi was captured near his hometown of Sirte at dawn as he tried to flee in a convory that came under attack from NATO warplanes.

Golden trophy: Young Libyans hold a gold-plated handgun belonging to Gaddafi, left, who was last publicly seen as merely an image, right, accompanying an audio message broadcast by Al-Arouba on 1 September

The official also said the head of Gaddafi's armed forces, Abu Bakr Younus Jabr, was killed during the capture of the former Libyan leader.

The NTC said Sirte's fall would be the point at which it would declare Libya liberated. The transitional authorities have said a new government would then be formed within a month, and the current administration would resign.

The U.S. State Department said today it could not confirm that Gaddafi had been captured.

White House officials were not immediately available to comment. The Pentagon also said it could not confirm the reports.

It is understood that Gaddafi’s son Saif has also been captured by rebels.

There were some reports that NATO had bombed a compound shortly before Gaddafi’s reported capture.

Gaddafi's killing 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 of Syria and Yemen.

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 23 August 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.

A love for uniforms, female bodyguards and brutal repression

In the end Muammar Gaddafi's end was as violent as his life, gunned down without mercy in the crumbling ruins of his home town.

His love of comic-opera uniforms, exotic female bodyguards and Bedouin tents provided a theatrical backdrop for 42 years of bloody repression that, in the end, could not withstand a determined uprising backed by NATO air power.

Chased out of Tripoli by rebel forces, Gaddafi disappeared - some said into the empty desert spaces in the south of his vast country.

Eccentric style: Gaddafi was known for his love of over-the-top military-style uniforms and a cadre of young female bodyguards who were supposedly trained to kill

In tandem with his eccentricity, Gaddafi had a charisma which initially at least won him support among many ordinary Libyans. His readiness to take on Western powers and Israel, both with rhetoric and action, earned him a certain cachet with some in other Arab states who felt their own leaders were too supine.

While leaders of neighbouring Arab states folded quickly in the face of popular uprisings, Gaddafi put up a bloody fight, taking on NATO as well as local insurgents who quickly seized half the country.

For most of his 42-year rule, he held a prominent position in the West's gallery of international rogues, while maintaining tight control at home by eliminating dissidents and refusing to anoint a successor.

Gaddafi effected a successful rapprochement with the West by renouncing his weapons of mass destruction programme in return for an end to sanctions. But he could not avoid the tide of popular revolution sweeping through the Arab world.

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source:dailymail

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