Muammar Gaddafi has been killed after National Transitional Council fighters overran loyalist defences in the toppled Libyan leader's hometown and final stronghold of Sirte.
But questions remained on Thursday over the circumstances of Gaddafi's death as footage appeared to show he had been captured alive, following an apparent attempt to flee the besieged coastal city in a convoy which came under fire from French warplanes and a US drone aircraft.
Other footage showed Gaddafi's lifeless and bloodied body being dragged along a road.
"We have been waiting for this moment for a long time. Muammar Gaddafi has been killed," Mahmoud Jibril, the de facto Libyan prime minister, told reporters on Thursday in Tripoli, the capital.
Jibril said Gaddafi had been shot in the head "in crossfire" between his supporters and NTC fighters after his capture.
"He was alive up to last moment, until he arrived at hospital" in the town of Misrata, Jibril said.
After his death, Gaddafi's body was reportedly transferred to a mosque in the city.
Crowds took to the streets of Sirte, Tripoli, Misrata and Benghazi, the eastern city that spearheaded the uprising against Gaddafi's 42-year rule in February, to celebrate the news, with some firing guns and waving Libya's new flag.
"I'm so proud now," a Tripoli resident told Al Jazeera."It's a new era. Look to our eyes and you'll see happiness, finally".
One of Gaddafi's sons, Mutassim, was also killed on Thursday, having been hiding with his father, Mahmoud Shammam, Libya's information minister said. Earlier reports had suggested that he had been captured alive but injured.
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