WNC Blog - Gruesome photos of an apparently lifeless Moammar Gadhafi raced around the Internet on Thursday as news broadcasters struggled to confirm reports that Libya's longtime strongman was dead.
Such pictures -- grainy and grisly as they are -- will now become the defining image of a moment of historic change in Libya.
First came a photograph showing what appeared to be Gadhafi's bloodied face slumped against a man's crimson-stained leg, as he was manhandled, dead or dying, among a crowd.
A short time later, Arabic news channel Al Jazeera broadcast blurry cell phone footage of what was apparently Gadhafi's half-naked body being hauled along a street, leaving a trail of blood on the pavement.
A close-up of what appeared to be the face that had loomed over Libya for a generation showed it pale, blood trickling from an apparent head wound.
Gadhafi's last moments alive Cell video appears to show dead Gadhafi
More cell phone footage seemed to show him bleeding but still alive, being placed in a vehicle as wild cheers erupt from the fighters who surrounded him.With his death confirmed by Libya's new leaders, who said revolutionary forces shot Gadhafi as he tried to flee an attack on the house in Sirte where he was hiding, thoughts will now turn to the future.
But what do these last gory pictures mean for Libyans who have spent 42 years under Gadhafi's authoritarian rule?
In Tripoli, scenes of frenzied celebration broke out as the first image began to circulate, Channel 4 News's Lindsey Hilsum reported via Twitter. "Great cries of Allah Akbar as tv shows picture of what looks like dead #Gadaffi. People going crazy."