New regime troops captured Moamer Kadhafi on Thursday as they overran the last pocket of resistance from loyalists in his hometown Sirte, bringing their seven-month uprising to a triumphant conclusion.
Celebrations erupted in towns across Libya as news spread that the autocrat who ruled the country with an iron fist for 42 years was finally in custody.
"He has been captured," commander Mohamed Leith told AFP.
"He is badly wounded, but he is still breathing," Leith said, adding that he had seen Kadhafi himself and that he was wearing a khaki uniform and a turban.
Libyan TV channel "Libya lil Ahrar" carried the same news but a pro-Kadhafi television website insisted the ousted leader remained at liberty and AFP was independently able to confirm the capture..
"The reports peddled by the lackeys of NATO about the capture or death of the brother leader, Moamer Kadhafi, are baseless," said Al-Libiya television.
Kadhafi "is in good health," it insisted.
Ali Errishi, who served as Kadhafi's minister of immigration before