JUST IN: GUNMEN KILL SEIF AL-ISLAM GADDAFI IN ATTACK ON HOME IN LIBYA

GUNMEN KILL SEIF AL-ISLAM GADDAFI IN ATTACK ON HOME IN LIBYA

Seif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of Libya’s late longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi, has been killed by gunmen in an attack on his residence, according to statements from his adviser, relatives, and legal representatives.

An adviser to the Gaddafi family, Abdullah Othman Abdurrahim, told Libyan broadcaster Al-Ahrar TV on Tuesday that Seif al-Islam was shot dead inside his home by four unidentified armed men.

According to the account, the attackers disabled surveillance cameras before storming the residence and killing him. No official security agency has yet released details on the assailants or confirmed their identities.

Further confirmation came from Seif al-Islam’s French lawyer, Marcel Ceccaldi, who told AFP that his client was killed in his home in the western Libyan town of Zintan by what he described as a “four-man commando”.

“For now, we do not know who was behind the killing,” Ceccaldi said, adding that he had been informed by one of Seif al-Islam’s close associates about security concerns surrounding him roughly ten days earlier.

Seif al-Islam, 53, was widely regarded as a potential successor to his father before the 2011 uprising that ended Muammar Gaddafi’s four-decade rule. Although he held no formal government office, he was seen for years as a key political figure and was often described as Libya’s de facto prime minister during the latter period of his father’s rule.

In 2021, he announced plans to contest Libya’s presidential election, though the vote was later postponed indefinitely amid political divisions and insecurity.

Media reports said he was killed in Zintan, northwestern Libya, where his whereabouts had long remained unclear. His cousin, Hamid Gaddafi, told Al-Ahrar TV that he had “fallen as a martyr”.

Before the Arab Spring uprising, Seif al-Islam cultivated an image of reform and moderation. However, that reputation collapsed during the 2011 revolt when he publicly threatened severe violence against protesters, a stance that drew widespread condemnation.

He was arrested in southern Libya in November 2011 following an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court over alleged crimes committed during the uprising. A Tripoli court later sentenced him to death in 2015 after a controversial trial, but he was later released under an amnesty law.

Reacting to the development, Libya analyst Emadeddin Badi said Seif al-Islam’s killing could significantly alter the country’s political landscape.

“His death is likely to cast him as a martyr for a segment of the population while also reshaping electoral dynamics by removing a major obstacle to presidential elections,” Badi wrote on social media.

Former Gaddafi-era spokesman Moussa Ibrahim also condemned the killing, describing it as a betrayal and claiming that Seif al-Islam had recently expressed hopes for a peaceful and unified Libya.

Libya has struggled to regain stability since the NATO-backed uprising in 2011. The country remains divided between rival administrations, with a United Nations-backed government based in Tripoli and an eastern authority aligned with forces loyal to Khalifa Haftar.

As of the time of filing this report, Libyan authorities had not issued an official statement on the killing or announced any arrests.