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    October 27, 2011

Libya Vows to Prosecute Gadhafi Killers

   VOA News
   Image taken from amateur video posted on a social media website and
   obtained by Reuters, October 21, 2011, shows former Libyan leader
   Moammar Gadhafi, covered in blood, after his capture by NTC fighters in
   Sirte. Photo: Reuters
   Image taken from amateur video posted on a social media website and
   obtained by Reuters, October 21, 2011, shows former Libyan leader
   Moammar Gadhafi, covered in blood, after his capture by NTC fighters in
   Sirte.

   Libya's ruling National Transitional Council said Thursday it will
   prosecute the killers of ousted Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, if an
   investigation shows he died after his capture.
   NTC leaders have been under intense pressure to investigate the
   circumstances of Gadhafi's death last week after initially saying he
   was killed in crossfire after being pulled from a drainage pipe.
   Video has raised the possibility he was shot and killed as provisional
   government forces stormed his hometown of Sirte. Witnesses have offered
   conflicting information as to how Gadhafi died.
   Libya's Deputy U.N. Ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi said Wednesday initial
   reports show no transitional fighters shot at Gadhafi after he was
   arrested. Dabbashi told the U.N. Security Council the ousted leader was
   bleeding from his abdomen and head when he was arrested, and that he
   died after arriving at a hospital in Misrata.
   In other news, a lawyer representing former Libyan prime minister
   Al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi said he has been freed by a Tunisian court.
   Mahmoudi fled to Tunisia after Gadhafi's regime collapsed in August,
   and was recently arrested while trying to cross into Algeria. He went
   on a hunger strike to protest his possible extradition to Libya.
   In New York, the U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution Thursday
   that would end authorization of NATO's mission in Libya, despite calls
   from Libyan officials for the mission to be extended.
   Last week, NATO announced preliminary plans to phase out its
   six-month-old air campaign on October 31. But Libya's interim leaders,
   citing security concerns, have urged NATO to continue its mission until
   at least the end of the year.
   NATO operations in Libya were launched under a Security Council
   resolution to protect civilians from attacks by Gadhafi's military
   during the conflict.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.