Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


    October 20, 2011

Reports: Former Libyan Leader Gadhafi Dead

   Elizabeth Arrott | Cairo
   Anti-Gaddafi fighters celebrated the fall of Sirte October 20, 2011.
   Photo: Reuters
   Anti-Gaddafi fighters celebrated the fall of Sirte October 20, 2011.

   Reports from Libya say former leader Moammar Gadhafi has been killed by
   National Transitional Council forces. The reports have not been
   independently confirmed. They came as NTC fighers gained control of
   Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte, one of the last strongholds of the former
   government.

                                                    A Look at Sirte, Libya

   Libya's provisional government fighters have gained control of Sirte, a
      move that could allow the National Transitional Council (NTC) to say
         the country is fully liberated. Here are some facts about Sirte.
     * Hometown of former leader Moammar Gadhafi and has been a stronghold
       for his supporters
     * Located about 360 kilometers east of Tripoli. It has about 100,000
       residents.
     * Small fishing village, but after Mr. Gadhafi became Libya's leader
       in 1969, he began promoting it as a second capital.
     * Became Libya's only significant stronghold for Gadhafi loyalists on
       Monday, after NTC fighters gained control of the desert town of
       Bani Walid.
     * NTC officials have said the capture of Sirte would allow them to
       declare the country liberated, because it would mean the
       provisional government controlled all of Libya's ports and harbors.
     * NTC leader Mustafa Abdel Jabril has said he will step down once
       Sirte is liberated.

   NTC fighters raised the new Libyan flag in the center of Sirte Thursday
   morning, and celebratory gunfire and car horns replaced the sniper fire
   and heavy weaponry that had sounded through the city for weeks.
   The capture of Sirte comes near two months after forces loyal to the
   NTC took control of the capital Tripoli, forcing leader Moammar Gadhafi
   and his family to flee. His son Muatassim is believed to have been
   among those fighting in Sirte, where NTC fighters conducted a house to
   house search of the last areas of resistance.
   The declaration of victory in Sirte is expected to set in motion a
   series of political moves leading to elections, a new government and a
   new constitution - a massive undertaking country that has had 40 years
   of arbitrary, one-man rule.
   The capture follows NTC success in another pro-Gadhafi bastion, Bani
   Walid, earlier this week. Fighting still continues in southern areas of
   the country, the vast desert regions bordering Niger, Algeria and Chad.
   But control of Gadhafi's hometown provides a geographic as well as
   symbolic victory, uniting the main population corridor along the coast
   from east to west.
   Libya scholar Ziad Akl of the Ahram Center in Cairo says Gadhafi forces
   are in a struggle for survival.
   "The forces that are pro-Gadhafi, first of all, they are not
   politically organized, they are not strategically outlined, and they
   are not fighting actually to gain ground," said Akl. "They are simply
   trying to defend the positions they have and stop the revolution from
   moving on and this is a time- constrained battle."
   If that is the case, a major portion of that battle ended Thursday.

.