Muammar Gaddafi (c. 1942-2011), commonly known as Colonel Gaddafi, was a Libyan revolutionary and politician. He governed Libya for 42 long years from 1 September 1969 to 20 October 2011. He was initially ideologically committed to Arab nationalism and Arab socialism but later ruled according to his own Third International Theory.

When protests against the rule of Gaddafi broke out in Libya in February 2011, the government's security forces responded by opening fire on the protesters. As an initially peaceful protest transformed into a fully-fledged armed uprising against his 42-year rule, Gaddafi pledged to chase down the "cockroaches" and "rats" who had taken up arms against him.

After a North Atlantic Treaty Organization military intervention and eight months of intense conflict, it was Muammar Gaddafi and his inner circle who found themselves cornered and isolated in the coastal city of Sirte, Gaddafi's hometown, to avoid the shelling by anti-Gaddafi militias who had surrounded the area.

A 20 October 2011 escape attempt was doomed and Muammar Gaddafi was caught by militia members. He was immediately set upon by fighters who wounded him with a bayonet in his buttocks, and then began pummeling him with kicks and blows. By the time he was loaded into an ambulance, his body appeared lifeless. It remains unclear if he died from this violence or from being shot later, as some have claimed.

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