Reports: Libya's Qaddafi Killed Or Captured

Reports coming out of Libya say ousted Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi has been killed or captured in Sirte.

But a spokesman for Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) told the BBC the reports had not yet been confirmed by Libya's interim leadership.

"We cannot confirm that Muammar Qaddafi or any other big officials have been arrested and moved to Misurata," NTC spokesman Mahmud Shammam told BBC television.

"We know that some local news radios are saying that, but the real confirmation will come from [the NTC] in Benghazi."

The U.S. State Department also said it could not confirm the reports of Qaddafi's capture or death, while a NATO official said the alliance was checking the reports.

The local Libyan media reports and NTC officials said Qaddafi was in a convoy fleeing Sirte, which came under NATO attack.

NTC official Abdel Majid Mlegta told Reuters that Qaddafi died of wounds suffered in his capture. Some Libyan media reports also said Qaddafi had been killed.

Qaddafi Hometown Captured

Earlier, NTC forces said they had overcome the last pockets of resistance in Sirte, Qaddafi's hometown.

Sirte was the last remaining stronghold of Qaddafi loyalists, three months after NTC forces seized control of the capital, Tripoli, in August.

Yunus al-Abdali, head of operations in the eastern half of the city, told Reuters that "Sirte has been liberated" and his forces were now chasing fleeing Qaddafi fighters.

Another frontline commander, Hussein Abdel Salam, told AFP that his forces were now carrying out a mop-up operation in Sirte and that "within hours we will announce that Sirte is free."

compiled from agency reports