Muammar Gaddafi: Obituary

A senior National Transitional Council official has said that deposed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has died of his wounds after being captured near his hometown of Sirte.

Muammar Gaddafi came to power in 1969 in a coup at the age of 27 and went on to rule Libya for 42 years with an iron fist.

He has left Libya in tatters and despite the vast oil wealth, a vast majority of Libyans still live on about $2 a day and 40 per cent remain unemployed.

Gaddafi wanted to be the leader of the Arab world and modeled himself on Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser.

He published the Green Book which established rule of the people but in reality he exercised absolute power.

The former Libyan leader was accused of bombing Pan Am Flight 103 in Scotland, a charge he always denied. After this Libya remained under internatinal isolation for years.

When the uprising gathered momentum earlier this year he blamed everyone, from US to al-Qaeda, and called the protesters rats and cats of Libya.

Many will remember Gaddafi as the leader who set Libya back by many years.