Muammar Gaddafi Dead: Rebel Forces Celebrate Deposed Leader's Reported Death
Muammar Gaddafi has died, according to a senior leader in the country's National Transitional Council (NTC), and Libyan fighters have been rejoicing in the streets.
NTC's rebel fighters have been cheering, honking horns, shooting their guns into the air, and chanting victorious, obviously elated that their eight-month long battle against Gaddafi's supporters have finally come to an end.
News of the Libyan leader's capture and death has spread to Tripoli, Benghazi,and Gaza, where civilians have also been celebrating.
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Just today, Libyan fighters managed to swarm into Gaddafi's last major hideout in his hometown of Sirte.
According to Fox News sources, NATO forces attacked a convoy where Gaddafi was believed to be hiding as it fled the town, and rebel ground troops followed afterward.
"[Gaddafi] was also hit in his head," NTC representative Abdel Majid Mlegta informed Reuters. "There was a lot of firing against his group and he died."
Conflicting information from the Misrata Military Council says that the ex-dictator was killed when the airstrike hit the convoy, according to the Associated Press.
Gaddafi had been reported to be wounded in both legs in the resulting battle between loyalists and revolutionary forces.
Two months earlier, since the fall of Libya's capital Tripoli, Gaddafi, his counsel, and his loyal forces had been on the run.
After this conflict, questions arise as to the remaining loyalists and possible reactions. NTC armed forces claimed to have disarmed or captured 95 percent of loyalist forces, says, Al Jazeera's Tony Birtley.
Al-Libiya television, a pro-Gaddafi station, claims that all accounts of the deposed leader's death are untrue. According to the station, reports that Gaddafi is dead "[is] nothing but rumors."
Neither the White House nor the U.S. State Department have confirmed the reports of Gaddafi's capture or death.
