A senior National Transitional Council official has said that deposed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has died of his wounds after being captured near his hometown of Sirte.<br /><br />Muammar Gaddafi came to power in 1969 in a coup at the age of 27 and went on to rule Libya for 42 years with an iron fist.<br /><br />He has left Libya in tatters and despite the vast oil wealth, a vast majority of Libyans still live on about $2 a day and 40 per cent remain unemployed.<br /><br />Gaddafi wanted to be the leader of the Arab world and modeled himself on Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser.<br /><br />He published the Green Book which established rule of the people but in reality he exercised absolute power.<br /><br />The former Libyan leader was accused of bombing Pan Am Flight 103 in Scotland, a charge he always denied. After this Libya remained under internatinal isolation for years.<br /><br />When the uprising gathered momentum earlier this year he blamed everyone, from US to al-Qaeda, and called the protesters rats and cats of Libya.<br /><br />Many will remember Gaddafi as the leader who set Libya back by many years.
