Gadhafi killed in rebel custody

TRIPOLI, Libya – Former Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi was killed in rebel custody on Thursday after being seized in a sewage tunnel in his hometown, the final triumph for pro-democracy fighters who have struggled for eight months to take control of the country.

Gadhafi’s death came on a day of intense military activity in Sirte, the last loyalist holdout in Libya, where his supporters had fended off better-armed revolutionaries for weeks. Before his capture, an American drone and French fighter jets fired on a large, disorganized convoy leaving the city that he appears to have been in. It was not clear whether the airstrikes hit Gadhafi’s vehicles, NATO officials said.

Gadhafi was shot in the head during an exchange of gunfire between his supporters and revolutionaries as he was being whisked away from the tunnel in a truck, according to Mahmoud Jibril, the interim prime minister. But cellphone videos played on Arab-language TV stations showed an already bloodied and dazed Gadhafi being escorted to the truck, raising questions about exactly when he was hit. One of Gadhafi’s sons, Mutassim, and his army chief of staff were also slain, officials said.

The taking of Sirte and Gadhafi’s death marked the climax of a war that was backed by an unprecedented NATO air campaign aimed at protecting civilians. Thursday’s events clear the way for the appointment of a temporary government that is to steer the country toward elections.

Gadhafi, thought to be 69 when he died, ruled the country for 42 years, and he had vowed to fight to the death in Libya rather than concede defeat to a popular uprising. He was a brutal, and often unpredictable, autocrat and led this oil-rich nation virtually single-handedly, banning opposition parties and a free press and mandating study of his “Green Book,” which prescribed a supposed rule by the masses.

Gadhafi was the first leader to be killed in the Arab Spring uprisings, and photos of his blood-smeared face quickly spread across the region, sending a powerful message to both dictators and demonstrators elsewhere, much like photos of former Egyptian ruler Hosni Mubarak being hauled before a court.

Libya erupted in joy as word of his capture and death flashed across Arab-language channels. In Tripoli, celebratory gunfire was so heavy that airspace over the city was closed to traffic.

“This is the moment we were fighting for. Finally we got rid of the dictator!” exclaimed Sharif Hakim, 37, who wore the camouflage uniform of the revolutionaries and joined a singing, dancing crowd in downtown Tripoli.

Jibril said Gadhafi was not slain upon capture. Officials and fighters in Sirte, however, gave varying details during the day of how the killing occurred.

Fighters on the ground told Reuters that Gadhafi and a handful of his men appeared to run from their convoy after the NATO bombing and take shelter in two drainage pipes.

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

The prime minister said Gadhafi was discovered with a group of supporters in a sewage pipe in Sirte, armed with a pistol and wearing pants and a long-underwear shirt, a far cry from his famously flamboyant outfits. He did not resist arrest.

As Gadhafi was being walked to a truck, however, he was shot in the right arm in an exchange of gunfire between his supporters and revolutionaries, Jibril said.

The truck then got caught in crossfire as it headed toward a hospital, and Gadhafi was shot in the head, Jibril said.

“That was the deadly shot,” he said in an interview. The former leader died shortly thereafter, he said.

But cellphone videos showed Gadhafi being loaded on a truck, blood spattered on his face and chest, suggesting he was wounded before boarding the truck.

“We got you!” revolutionaries in camouflage yelled as they crowded around the wounded former leader.

A doctor took samples of Gadhafi’s DNA, blood and saliva to confirm his identity, Jibril said. The doctor also clipped off pieces of the former dictator’s hair, only to discover he was wearing a wig, the prime minister said.

Gadhafi’s reign ended in late August, when revolutionaries flooded the capital.

Now, the question is whether forces united in their hatred of Gadhafi can come together and govern a country that has never known democracy.

“The challenge was, and still is, to regain security in the cities,” which are effectively under the control of local militias and awash in arms, Jibril said in an interview.

Gadhafi leaves such a vacuum that interim leaders are not even sure what kind of laws they can use to try the thousands of pro-Gadhafi prisoners detained during the conflict. Different tribes may jockey for power, and conflicts are likely between Islamists and more secular Libyans.

A NATO official said Gadhafi’s death would not necessarily mean an immediate end to alliance action in the country, adding that NATO has not yet held formal discussions on ending the mission.

“It’s not like walking out of a room and switching off the light,” the official said, speaking under alliance ground rules that he not be named. But, the official said, “now that the last area has fallen, we’re not going to see any strike missions, are we?”