Gaddafi killed in gun battle as Libya's ruling NTC controls Sirte

Libya's fallen leader Muammar Gaddafi died of wounds around Thursday noon after his capture in Sirte, after nearly two months on the run, as fighters of the ruling National Transitional Council (NTC) claimed control of Gaddafi's hometown.

Mahmoud Jibril, head of the NTC's executive committee, confirmed Thursday at a press conference held in Tripoli that Gaddafi, who has ruled the North African country for 42 years, was killed in his hometown Sirte, some 450 km east of Tripoli. NTC troops had surrounded the Mediterranean coastal town of Sirte for weeks to break the last stronghold of Gaddafi. However, the NTC forces faced tough resistance of Gaddafi loyalists.
NTC field commander Momhemed Buras Ali Al-Maknee told Xinhua earlier that Gaddafi was found trying to flee by a group of NTC fighters from the western Libyan city of Misrata in Sirte, who was then severely injured.
At an evening press conference in the capital, Jibril said that Gaddafi was pulled out from a drainage hole in Sirte on Thursday morning, and that he was "completely in good health" when he was captured by NTC fighters.
Wearing his underwear and trousers and armed with a gun, Gaddafi, the former ruler of the North African country did not resist the arrest, Jibril told reporters.
Gaddafi was shot by a bullet in his right hand as he was to be sent onto a NTC pickup truck, Jibril said, stressing that he had no other injuries before the truck moved.
But when the vehicle started moving, there occurred "a cross- fire between the revolutionaries and the (Gaddafi) loyalists," when Gaddafi was shot and injured in his head, Jibril said, without confirming on whether the shot was made by the NTC fighters or Gaddafi's troops.
VietNamNet/Xinhuanet