Celebrations erupt after Muammar Gaddafi killed in Libya

Added by on October 20, 2011

Libyan National Transitional Council fighters carry a man holding what is claimed to be the gold-plated gun of ousted Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi at the site where he was captured and killed in the coastal Libyan city of Sirte on October / Photo: Getty Images

Abdul Hafiz Ghoga, vice chairman of Libya’s National Transitional Council, confirmed that the ousted Libyan leader was killed on Thursday near Sirte, Libya.

“We announce to the world that Muammar Gaddafi has been killed at the hands of the revolutionaries,” Ghoga told a news conference in Benghazi.

As Libyans celebrate, reactions from officials were decisive:

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon: “This is only the end of the beginning. The road ahead for Libya and its people will be difficult and full of challenges. Now’s the time for all Libyans to come together. Libyans can only realise the promise of the future through national unity and reconciliation.”

“Gaddafi’s death marks the end of his reign of terror and the promise of a new Libya”, said US Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations committee.

British Prime Minister David Cameron: “Today is a day to remember all of Colonel Gaddafi’s victims”.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev: “We hope that there will be peace in Libya, and that all those who are governing the state, different representatives of Libyan tribes, will reach a final agreement on the configuration of power and Libya will be a modern democratic state.”

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said, “Sic transit gloria mundi (the glory of the world is fleeting). Now the war is over.”

In latest developments:

  • Gaddafi was initially injured in a NATO airstrike on a convoy and captured alive at about 06:30 UTC/GMT; Gaddafi was reportedly killed about 3 hours later.
  • The US Pentagon said it was not clear if Col. Gaddafi was part of the convoy involved in the NATO airstrike.
  • Al Arabiya reports an NTC fighter said, “We did not know Gadhafi was there until he shot at us first”
  • The African Union says it has lifted its suspension of Libya’s membership.
  • Oil prices dropped as news of Gaddafi’s death spread.