Libyan forces 'capture Gaddafi'

[Seshmeister]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15385955

Commanders for Libya's transitional authorities say they have captured ousted leader Col Muammar Gaddafi.

The reports came after transitional forces claimed control of Sirte, Col Gaddafi's birthplace, following weeks of fierce fighting.

Col Gaddafi is said to be wounded. There is no independent confirmation of the reports.

The colonel was toppled in August after 42 years in power. The International Criminal Court is seeking his arrest.

"He's captured. He's wounded in both legs," National Transitional Council (NTC) official Abdel Majid told Reuters news agency.

"He's been taken away by ambulance."

AFP news agency quoted another NTC official, Mohamed Leith, as saying that Col Gaddafi had been captured in Sirte and was "seriously wounded" but still breathing.

A soldier who says he captured Muammar Gaddafi tod the BBC the colonel had shouted: "Don't shoot!"

The BBC's Caroline Hawley in Tripoli says although the capture is unconfirmed, ships and cars have been sounding their horns in the capital and guns are being fired in celebration.

[Blaze]

Muammar Gaddafi 'killed' in gun battle
Reports say that toppled leader and the head of his armed forces have both been killed, following the fall of Sirte.

[Blaze]

A senior NTC official has said that Muammar Gaddafi has died of his wounds after being captured near Sirte.

Another NTC commander said that Moussa Ibrahim, former spokesman for Muammar Gaddafi's fallen government, was also captured near the Sirte.

Abdul Hakim Al Jalil, commander of the 11th brigade, also said he had seen the body of the chief of Gaddafi's armed forces, Abu Bakr Younus Jabr.

"I've seen him with my own eyes," he said and showed Reuters a picture of Jabr's body.

"Moussa Ibrahim was also captured and both of them were transferred to (our) operations room."

Earlier, Jamal abu-Shaalah, a field commander of NTC, told Al Jazeera that the toppled leader had been seized, but it was not clear whether he was dead or alive.

"He's captured. He's wounded in both legs ... He's been taken away by ambulance," Abdel Majid, a senior NTC military official said.

The news came shortly after NTC claimed capturing Sirte, Gaddafi's hometown, after weeks of fighting.

NATO and the US state department said it cannot confirm any reports. Meanwhile in Benghazi, crowds gathered in the streets to start celebrating the reports of Gaddafi's death.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/10/20111020111520869621.html

[Seshmeister]

42 years is a pretty good innings.

[Blaze]

[Seshmeister]

Everyone complained about Obama not releasing the picture of Bin Laden's body but now they are all complaining about seeing pictures of the dead Gaddafi.

[Nitro Express]

Everyone complained about Obama not releasing the picture of Bin Laden's body but now they are all complaining about seeing pictures of the dead Gaddafi.

It's just the wimps that complain. I want proof. I will believe the whole Bin Laden thing when they actually release some proof they got him. No photos and the military people who were involved in the operation all die in a helicopter crash.

Our president and most our politicians are pathological liars. I'm amazed people still take these guys at their word and not only that, want to give them more power over us.

[Blaze]

What a terribly vain creature he was. He Waved about a golden gun when captured and taking time to trim and dye his bread during a heated conflict while his "beloved people" died around him. Quartering him and feeding him to the work dogs would be too good for him

[Blaze]

2 min 20 sec ago - Libya
A transcript of United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s comments on the death of Muammar Gaddafi:

Before we begin, let me say a few words about this morning’s news headlines.

You have all seen reports of the death of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and the end of fighting in Sirte and other cities.

Clearly, this day marks a historic transition for Libya.

In the coming days, we will witness scenes of celebration, as well as grief for those who lost so much.

Yet let us recognize, immediately, that this is only the end of the beginning. The road ahead for Libya and its people will be difficult and full of challenges.

Now is the time for all Libyans to come together. Libyans can only realize the promise of the future through national unity and reconciliation.

Combatants on all sides must lay down their arms in peace.

This is the time for healing and rebuilding, for generosity of spirit, not for revenge.

As Libya’s transitional authorities prepare the way for elections and take the many other steps toward building their new nation, inclusion and pluralism must be the watchwords.

All Libyans must be able to recognize themselves in the nation’s government and leadership. The high hopes sustained through the long days of revolution and conflict must translate into opportunities and justice for all.

I have just spoken to my special representative for Libya, Mr. Ian Martin in Tripoli. The new United Nations mission to Libya is on the ground and ready to assist Libya and its people along the path ahead.

http://blogs.aljazeera.net/liveblog/Libya

[Blaze]

Irony Alert!

A Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) fighter looks through a large concrete pipe where ousted Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi was allegedly captured, with a dead loyalist gunmen in the foreground, in the coastal Libyan city of Sirte on October 20, 2011. A Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) commander had told AFP that Kadhafi was captured as his hometown Sirte was falling, adding that the ousted strongman was badly wounded. Arabic graffiti in blue reads: 'This is the place of Kadhafi, the rat.. God is the greatest.'

[chefcraig]

Everyone complained about Obama not releasing the picture of Bin Laden's body but now they are all complaining about seeing pictures of the dead Gaddafi.

It is odd that he resembles Elvis Presley in several of them. Oh, and this...

Gruesome Photos of Dead Gaddafi Circulate On Twitter: Beware of Malware

mashable.com

As reports of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s death circulate on the Internet, so is a gruesome cellphone photo of what appears to be his severely wounded body and another that appears to be his dead body. Both are likely opportunities for spammers with bad intentions.

The first photo was distributed by the news agency AFP after commanders for Libya’s transitional military, the National Transitional Council (NTC), said they had captured Gaddafi after invading his hometown of Sirte. On Thursday, an NTC spokesperson told the New York Times Gaddafi had been killed, but the U.S. State Department had still not confirmed his death as of 10:00 a.m. ET.

Celebrations in Libya and a flood of Twitter updates are treating the announcement of Gaddafi’s death as authentic — including a slew of sharing of the photos allegedly showing his capture.

In the past, photos like this — including alleged photos of Osama Bin Laden’s body — have been easy vehicles for malicious links. One reason is search engines decide which links are legitimate partly by looking at user behavior. When news like Gaddafi’s death breaks, however, there is no history for them to rely on and malicious links mascarading as news can more easily rank high in search results. Another reason is that people often seek such images from unfamiliar sources. Websites or Twitter messages promise to link to a breaking topic and then lead instead to another site or virus. The Gaddafi photo is a prime candidate for this type of malicious links, so it’s wise to use caution when clicking.

Because of the photo’s violent nature, we have decided not to post it in this article. There is another photo that has been shown on news network Al Jazeera (Warning: this links to graphic content) of Gaddafi’s body that could be susceptible to similar scams.

So are the photos fake? An NTC official told Reuters that the apparently dead man in the Al Jazeera photo is Gaddafi. But as CNN notes, “Much caution should be used with these reports because false information has come out previously.”

[BITEYOASS]

What a terribly vain creature he was. He Waved about a GOLDEN GUN when captured and taking time to trim and dye his bread during a heated conflict while his "beloved people" died around him. Quartering him and feeding him to the work dogs would be too good for him

Oh shit, you made me do it...

[Blaze]

I do say, I did done foorgotten! Good call man!

[Blaze]

Tripolitanian Libyan
by AliTweel
When your funeral becomes a national day of celebration, you know you've done some bad things in your life.

Cong"rat"ulations Libya!

jennnsolo Jen Lasher
@AliTweel Cong"rat"ulations.

[Blaze]

Reuters) - Muammar Gaddafi called the rebels who rose up against his 42-years of one-man rule "rats," but in the end it was he who was captured cowering in a drainage pipe full of rubbish and filth.

"He called us rats, but look where we found him," said Ahmed Al Sahati, a 27-year-old government fighter, standing next to two stinking drainage pipes under a six-lane highway.

Government fighters, video evidence and the scenes of sheer carnage nearby told the story of the dictator's final hours.

Shortly before dawn prayers on Thursday, Gaddafi surrounded by a few dozen loyal bodyguards and accompanied by the head of his now non-existent army Abu Bakr Younis Jabr broke out of the two-month siege of Sirte and made a break for the west.

But they did not get far.

NATO said its aircraft struck military vehicles belonging to pro-Gaddafi forces near Sirte at about 8:30 a.m. (7:30 a.m. British time) on Thursday, but the alliance said it was unsure whether the strikes had killed Gaddafi.

Fifteen pick-up trucks mounted with heavy machine guns lay burnt out, smashed and smouldering next to an electricity sub station some 20 metres from the main road, about two miles west of Sirte.

They had clearly been hit by a force far beyond anything the motley army the former rebels have assembled during eight months of revolt to overthrow the once feared leader.

But there was no bomb crater, indicating the strike may have been carried out by a helicopter gunship, or had been strafed by a fighter jet.

Inside the trucks still in their seats sat the charred skeletal remains of drivers and passengers killed instantly by the strike. Other bodies lay mutilated and contorted strewn in the grass. Some 50 bodies in all.

Gaddafi himself and a handful of his men escaped death and appeared to have ran through a stand of trees towards the main road and hid in the two drainage pipes.

But a group of government fighters were on their tail.

"At first we fired at them with anti-aircraft guns, but it was no use," said Salem Bakeer, while being feted by his comrades near the road. "Then we went in on foot.

"One of Gaddafi's men came out waving his rifle in the air and shouting surrender, but as soon as he saw my face he started shooting at me," he told Reuters.

"Then I think Gaddafi must have told them to stop. 'My master is here, my master is here', he said, 'Muammar Gaddafi is here and he is wounded'," said Bakeer.

"We went in and brought Gaddafi out. He was saying 'what's wrong? What's wrong? What's going on?'. Then we took him and put him in the car," Bakeer said.

At the time of capture, Gaddafi was already wounded with gunshots to his leg and to his back, Bakeer said.

Other government fighters who said they took part in Gaddafi's capture, separately confirmed Bakeer's version of events, though one said the man who ruled Libya for 42 years was shot and wounded at the last minute by one of his own men.

"One of Muammar Gaddafi's guards shot him in the chest," said Omran Jouma Shawan.

Army chief Jabr was also captured alive, Bakeer said. NTC officials later announced he was dead.

Fallen electricity cables partially covered the entrance to the pipes and the bodies of three men, apparently Gaddafi bodyguards lay at the entrance to one end, one in shorts probably due to a bandaged wound on his leg.

Four more bodies lay at the other end of the pipes. All black men, one had his brains blown out, another man had been decapitated, his dreadlocked head lying beside his torso.

Joyous government fighters fired their weapons in the air, shouted "Allahu Akbar" and posed for pictures. Others wrote graffiti on the concrete parapets of the highway.

"Gaddafi was captured here," said one simply.

From there Gaddafi was taken to the nearby city of Sirte where he and his dwindling band of die-hard supporters had made a last stand under a rain of missile and artillery fire in a desperate two-month siege.

Video footage showed Gaddafi, dazed and wounded, but still clearly alive and gesturing with his hands as he was dragged from a pick-up truck by a crowd of angry jostling group of government soldiers who hit him and pulled his hair.

He then appeared to fall to the ground and was enveloped by the crowd. NTC officials later announced Gaddafi had died of his wounds after capture.

(Writing by Jon Hemming Editing by Maria Golovnina)