Reports: Ousted Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi has been captured, possibly killed

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi chairs
 the Arab summit in Sirte, Libya, on Oct. 9, 2010

Reuters quotes Abdel Majid of the Libyan transitional government as saying that a wounded Moammar Gadhafi has been captured.
NTC Information Minister Mahmoud Shammam tells CNN that all indications are that Gadhafi was killed by NTC forces while he was fleeing a house in his hometown of Sirte.Abdel Majid of the Libyan transitional government said earlier that a wounded Gaddafi has been captured.
Update at 10:08 a.m. ET: Al Arabiya quotes unidentified sources as saying Gadhafi's body has arrived in Misrata.
Update at 10:05 a.m. ET: Al Jazeera carries on its website a graphic photo that it says is a dead Gadhafi.
Update at 9:48 a.m. ET: Al Arabiya reports that Gadhafi's body has arrived in Misrata and that it would be allowed to film the corpse.

Al Arabiya and other networks earlier broadcast a photo that the interim government confirmed was the body of ousted Libyan leader.

Update at 9:43 a.m. ET: A Libyan fighter tells the Associated Press he was there when Gadhafi was shot with a 9 mm gun in the lower body. Standing in front of a truck with a crowd of congratulatory comrades, he says he struck the former dictator with his shoe — a grave insult in the Arab world — waving the footwear in question for emphasis.

Update at 9:19 a.m. ET: Al Arabiya carries a combined report from AFP and Reuters that quotes Abdel Hafez Ghoga said, a spokesman for the National Transitional Council, as saying: "We announce to the world that Qaddafi has been killed at the hands of the revolution. It is a historic moment. It is the end of tyranny and dictatorship. Qaddafi has met his fate.".

NTC official Abdel Majid Mlegta tells Reuters that Gadhafi was "hit in the head" in an attack on him and his convoy as he was fleeing his hideout in Sirte. "There was a lot of firing against his group and he died," Mlegta says according to Reuters.Update at 9:09 a.m. ET: Information Minister Mahmoud Shammam says he has confirmed that Gadhafi was dead from fighters who said they saw the body, the Associated Press reports. Shammam says he expects the prime minister to confirm the death soon, noting that past reports emerged "before making 100% confirmation."

"Our people in Sirte saw the body … Mustafa Abdul-Jalil will confirm it soon," he tells the AP. "Revolutionaries say Gadhafi was in a convoy and that they attacked the convoy."

Col. Roland Lavoie, spokesman for NATO's operational headquarters in Naples, Italy, says the alliance's aircraft this morning struck two vehicles of pro-Gadhafi forces "which were part of a larger group maneuvering in the vicinity of Sirte." Update at 9:07 a.m. ET: Al Arabiya reports that Gadhafi was found hiding in a basement in Sirte with his Minister of Defense.

Update at 8:52 a.m. ET: NTC Information Minister Mahmoud Shammam tells CNN that all indications are that Gadhafi was killed by NTC forces. He tells CNN that Gadhafi was injured while trying to flee a house under attack in Sirte.

Update at 8:39 am. ET: Bel Haj, the military chief for the National Transition Council, tells Al Jazeera that Gadhafi has been killed.

Update at 8:37 a.m. ET: The British newspaper The Guardian carries on its website a photo that purportedly shows a wounded Gadhafi being captured. The purported photo was said to be taken from a mobile phone video.

You can see the photo on the newspaper's website.

Update at 8:29 a.m. ET: Mustafa Abdel Jalil, head of the National Transitional Council, will address the Libyan nation shortly, Al Jazeera reports.

Update at 8:27 a.m. ET: A pro-Gadhafi TV Web site denies reports that the former Libyan leader has been been killed or captured, Al Jazeera reports.

"The reports peddled by the lackeys of NATO about the capture or death of the brother leader, Moammar Gadhafi, are baseless," saiys Al-Libiya television. Gadhafi "is in good health," it adds. Reports Gadhafi was killed or captured "are nothing but rumors."

"It is not the first time they resort to this kind of disinformation," the report notes.

Update at 8:23 a.m. ET: Al Jazeera's Tony Birtley, reporting from Sirte, says it appears that the last hundred or so of Gadhafi loyalists tried to make a run for it and that 95% of the city is under the control of the NTC forces.

Update at 8:14 a.m. ET: The Misrata Military Council, one of multiple command groups for revolutionary forces, says its fighters captured Gadhafi in Sirte, the Associated Press reports. Another commander, Abdel-Basit Haroun, tells the AP that Gadhafi was killed when an airstrike hit a convoy trying to flee.

The spokesman for Libya's transitional government, Jalal al-Gallal, and its military spokesman Abdul-Rahman Busin, however, say the reports have not been confirmed. A NATO official also says the alliance could not independently confirmed, the AP reports.

Update at 8:03 a.m. ET: The BBC's Caroline Hawley in Tripoli reports hearing "quite a lot of celebratory gunfire."

Update at 7:59 a.m. ET: Al Arabiya reports that the head of Libya's National Transitional Council will be speaking shortly about some "good news" regarding Gadhafi.

Update at 7:55 a.m. ET: There are numerous unconfirmed reports that Gadhafi may have died of wounds inflicted when his convoy was attacked. Reuters quotes a "senior NTC military official" as saying Gadhafi had died of wounds suffered in his capture near Sirte.

Al Jazeera reports that its sources also say that Gadhafi has been killed, but again no official confirmation.

Update at 7:45 a.m. ET: A fighter from the transitional government tells Al Jazeera that Gadhafi has been captured, but cannot confirm whether he is dead or alive.

Update at 7:40 a.m. ET: Al Jazeera quotes unidentified sources as saying that Gadhafi has been captured and is "critically injured."

Update at 7:38 a.m. ET: Reuters, quoting an NTC official, says a wounded Gadhafi was taken away in a hospital.

Update at 7:35 a.m. ET: Libyan TV reports that Gadhafi is being taken to the city of Misrata, Al-Jazeera reports.

Update at 7:31 a.m. ET: Reuters quotes an official with the National Transitional Council as saying a wounded Gadhafi was captured near Sirte as tried to flee in convoy which attacked by NATO.

Update at 7:28 a.m. ET: Former Libyan minister of information Ali Errishi tells Al Jazeera that top officials in the National Transitional Council have confirmed Gadhafi's capture.

The Reuters reports says that Gadhafi was wounded in both legs.

Al Jazeera quotes an NTC official as saying only that a "high-profile target" has been captured.

The report come as the transitional government says it has seized Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte.

Original post: Libyan TV channels are reporting the arrest of Moammar Gadhafi in his hometown of Sirte, Al Alibya reports. There has been no official confirmation.
Al Arabiya, quoting medics, also reports that ousted defense minister Abu Bakr Yunis has been found dead in the city, which was one of the last strongholds of Gadhafi loyalists.

An image captured off a cellular phone camera shows the arrest of Libya's strongman Moammar Gadhafi in Sirte today, AFP Getty Images says. It is unconfirmed as to whether or not this photo is indeed Gadhafi, and there are conflicting reports as to whether he has been captured and is injured or if he is dead.