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Former Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi was killed on Thursday as fighters battling to complete an 8-month-old uprising against his rule overran his hometown of Sirte, Libya's interim rulers said.

Mahmoud Jibril, head of the Libyan National Transitional Council's (NTC) executive committee, said that Gadhafi was killed in a gun battle.

Jibril, also prime minister of the interim government, told reporters at a televised news conference held in Tripoli that the NTC would declare the total liberation of Libya on Thursday night or Friday.

Footage on Al Jazeera showed the body of the toppled Libyan strongman being stripped of his shirt. His face was red with blood and he had a bullet hole in the side of his head.

Gadhafi's body was taken to Misrata and placed in a mosque, Al Jazeera reported.

Earlier footage showed troops surrounding two large drainage pipes under a highway where the fighters said Gadhafi was found.

Spray painted above the pipe openings were the words "contemptible Gadhafi" and "God is greatest". There was one corpse, apparently a Gadhafi loyalist, lying on the ground next to the openings.

An anti-Gadhafi fighter said that Gadhafi had been found hiding in a hole in the ground and had pleaded "Don't shoot, don't shoot" to the men who grabbed him.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that the death of Gadhafi "marks an historic transition for Libya."

He also called upon the pro-Gadhafi fighters to "lay down their arms in peace".

US officials, including those at the State Department and Pentagon, scrambled to check reports of Gadhafi's death.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Thursday the death of Gadhafi turned a page for the Libyan people and signaled the start of a democratic process.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said that the death of the former leader held out the promise of a better future for the Libyan people.

He said in a statement in Downing Street: "People in Libya today have an even greater chance after this news of building themselves a strong and democratic future.”

（中國日報網英語點津 Helen 編輯）

About the broadcaster:

Lee Hannon is Chief Editor at China Daily with 15-years experience in print and broadcast journalism. Born in England, Lee has traveled extensively around the world as a journalist including four years as a senior editor in Los Angeles. He now lives in Beijing and is happy to move to China and join the China Daily team.