Libyans celebrate death of Khamis Gaddafi, son of Maummar Gaddafi


Unknown | 20:06 |

Hundreds of Libyans poured into the streets to celebrate the death of Khamis Gaddafi, the son of former dictator Maummar Gaddafi.

Newspaper reports said that government would release an official statement later in the day to confirm the death.  Khamis Gaddafi was killed many times last year, but he always turned up alive.
It was not known immediately how Khamis was killed, but unconfirmed reports said he was executed by militias, who reported to have captured many of former dictator’s fugitives during a fire-fight near the Libyan capital.
Khamis headed Libay’s most dreaded army unit, the Mechanical 32 Brigade, which played a key role in suppressing an uprising in Misrata and other Libyan cities last year.
The Libyan Herald reported that Khamis Qaddafi was discovered and arrested in Bani Walid today but died while being taken to Misrata.  Confirmation of his arrest and subsequent death was announced on TV this evening, Saturday, by the General National Congress spokesman Omar Humaidan.
According to Humaidan, Khamis was wounded when he and army forces were involved in a shoot out in Bani Walid.  He was captured by Misratan forces and taken to Misrata but died en route.

Up until today it had been generally believed that Khamis, Qaddafi’s youngest son (and in the views of many, his most brutal), had been killed on 29 August last year during a NATO airstrike. However, this was never confirmed, resulting in continuing rumors that he was still alive and somewhere in Libya. He was reported to have been seen in Bani Walid and in Tarhouna.
Shortly after his supposed death, pro-Qaddafi media announced that he was dead.  But this is now seen as deliberate disinformation, a practice the regime cultivated.  In 1986 it was announced that Qaddafi’s adopted daughter Hana was killed in the US airstrike on Bab Al-Azizya but she was subsequently seen many times in Libya. Likewise, Qaddafi’s son Seif Al-Arab was reported killed in a NATO raid on Bab Al-Azizya last year, but this was widely viewed as untrue.
Khamis’ death occurs exactly a year after that of his father, the dictator who was captured then killed, in Sirte.
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