LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - After a day of conflicting reports and rumors, National Transitional Council (NTC) Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril made an official statement: "We have been waiting for this moment for a long time. Moammar Khadafi has been killed." Jibril told reporters in Tripoli it was time to launch a new, united Libya.

Al-Jazeera TV showed Khadafi's bloodied corpse. In addition, the BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse has visited the drain where Khadafi was reportedly found and killed by NTC forces.

Khadafi had been toppled from power in August, going into hiding, occasionally releasing videos for broadcast.

The NTC now plans to officially announce Libya's "liberation" before indicating the next steps towards democratic elections.

NTC forces are now pursuing Saif al-Islam, Khadafi's most prominent son, who fled Sirte in a convoy before Sirte fell.
The global community welcomed the news, and urged the NTC to carry through its promise to reform the country.

U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron, who had taken a leading role in the NATO intervention, said it was "a day to remember all of Col Khadafi's victims."

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called it a "historic" moment, but warned that "the road ahead for Libya and its people will be difficult and full of challenges."

In the grainy video footage circulated among NTC fighters showing Khadafi's corpse, a large number of NTC fighters shout in chaotic scenes around a khaki-clad body, which has blood oozing from the face and neck.

Another video broadcast showed a body being dragged through the streets which the channel said was that of Khadafi.

An NTC fighter told the BBC he found Col Khadafi hiding in a hole in Sirte, the former leader begging for mercy not to be killed. The fighter then showed reporters a golden pistol he said he had taken from Khadafi.

Arabic TV channels then showed images of troops surrounding two large drainage pipes where the reporters said Khadafi was found.

In Tripoli, throngs of people -- men, women and children - hugged each other and chanted in jubilation. Car horns blared and car headlights were blinking. In spite of a currently fractious society, Khadafi's rule in Libya has been forever ended.

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