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Bloody and chaotic video footage of the last moments of oppressive Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi’s life in 2011 has surfaced, showing the once-merciless strongman at the mercy of a mob of armed and shouting rebels.
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The agonizing, gory demise of the man Ronald Reagan called the “mad dog of the Middle East” was captured on a cell phone by rebel fighter Ayman Almani on Oct. 20, 2011.
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Thrown on the hood of a truck, swarmed by angry captors and covered in his own blood, the bruised and battered Gaddafi can be seen gesturing and begging the rebels for his life.
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"He deserved it," declared Ayman. "Islam teaches us not to mistreat a prisoner, not to bear a grudge. But the people got carried away in the stampede and no one could stop them."
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The tumultuous video shows a man pointing a gun at Gaddafi’s head from above as the colonel searches the crowd for someone who might show him mercy.
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But there was no savior for the committed enemy of the U.S. — Gaddafi was shot dead just after this footage ends. In all the chaos, it was impossible to know for certain who pulled the trigger or what exactly ended his life.
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The official account of the NTC rebel group said Gaddafi was caught in a crossfire and died from bullet wounds. Alleged eyewitnesses in the crowd said Gaddafi was fatally shot in the stomach by rebels. Libya's chief forensic pathologist, Dr. Othman al-Zintani, performed an autopsy and told media that Gaddafi died from a gunshot to the head, but his official report has never been released.
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Later, a rebel identifying himself as Senad el-Sadik el-Ureybi claimed responsibility for shooting the oppressor, but that could not be verified. A 17-year-old rebel named Mohammed Elbibi picked up Gaddafi’s trademark gold handgun off the ground, and other rebels mistakenly assumed he had used it to kill the dictator — briefly making him the hero of the revolution.