KABUL - Former Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi, who ruled the oil-rich African country with an iron fist for 42 years, was killed during a gunbattle in his stronghold of Sirte city on Thursday, media reports said.
"We have been waiting for this moment for a long time. Moamar Gaddafi has been killed," Libyan Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril was quoted as saying by ABC News.

Earlier in the day, Libya's National Transition Council (NTC) said its fighters shot Gaddafi in Sirte, which fell to the rebels after weeks of fierce fighting.

With the White House and NATO said unable to confirm reports of the most wanted man's death, media reports spoke of wild celebrations in the streets of Tripoli.

Al Jazeera screened video of the 69-year-old leader, lying in a pool of blood. He allegedly backed the 1986 attack on a Berlin disco popular with US soldiers and the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.

The Reuters news agency quoted NTC Information Minister Mahmoud Shammam as saying: "He was killed in an attack by the fighters. There is footage of that." Jubilant gunmen fired in the air and danced in the streets of Tripoli and Benghazi.

Wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of ordering civilian killings, Gaddafi was ousted from power by rebel forces on Aug. 23. TV footage showed NTC fighters dragging Gaddafi's body.