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Gaddafi's LAST MOMENTS: What exactly happened?

Last updated on: October 25, 2011 14:51 IST
A fighter pulls Libya's former leader Muammar Gaddafi onto a miltary vehicle in Sirte in this still image taken from a video

The chain of events that led to ousted Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's death continue to remain very much in dispute.

Numerous videos have surfaced showing Gaddafi alive on Thursday, moments after his capture and moments before he was killed. He is said to have been dragged by rebel forces from a drain pipe following an air strike by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.

In a new video, he can bee seen wiping blood from his eye in a daze as rebels surround him, firing automatic weapons into the air and shouting 'Allahu Akbar'.

Gaddafi's LAST MOMENTS: What exactly happened?

Last updated on: October 25, 2011 14:51 IST
The body of slain Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is seen inside a storage freezer post autopsy in Misrata

Four days later, Libyans were still lining up to see the shirtless and bloodied corpse of Gaddafi and his son.

Spectators, many wearing face masks to block the smell of decomposing flesh, were finally stopped from entering the makeshift morgue, after Gaddafi's body had been shuttled around the city, Fox News reports.

Libya's new leaders still contend that Gaddafi died in a crossfire, but new video shows him in the final moments before his death, being paraded around like a trophy of war and then with a gunshot wound to the temple.

Gaddafi's LAST MOMENTS: What exactly happened?

Last updated on: October 25, 2011 14:51 IST
A resident flashes the victory sign near the body of slain Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi at a storage freezer in Misrata

"We have indeed requested, based on international demands, that the death of Gaddafi be investigated as he died during a clash and crossfire with his supporters," said Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, Libya's interim leader.

Several new unauthenticated videos have appeared on the Internet made by Libyans who say they fired the final shots -- execution style.

In one, an unidentified man holds up a bloodied shirt he claims he took from Gaddafi and a gold ring that he says he took off the dead dictator's hand.

Gaddafi's LAST MOMENTS: What exactly happened?

Last updated on: October 25, 2011 14:51 IST
Libyan people gather during celebrations after Muammar Gaddafi's death

"We grabbed him, I hit him in the face. Some fighters wanted to take him away, and that's when I shot him, twice in the head and in the chest," the man said.

Some reports suggested that the rebels who captured Gaddafi dragged him from a drainage pipe and tortured him with a knife.

Graphic footage released on Monday shows a rebel jabbing a helpless Gaddafi in the backside with what appears to be a US-made combat knife.

Gaddafi's LAST MOMENTS: What exactly happened?

Last updated on: October 25, 2011 14:51 IST
Libyans inspect bodies of Gaddafi loyalists who were killed in an attack on their convoy near Sirte

According to the New York Daily News, Gaddafi, who used rape to terrorise political opponents, appeared bloodied and terrified. And screams in Arabic can be heard amid the vengeful cries of the rebels.

The dictator died off-camera from a bullet to the head.

United States State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland stated that it was still not clear if Gaddafi had been captured alive, calling it a problem of the "fog of war."

"There will be an investigation," she said.