Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi seized power in a military coup in 1969. After rebels finally take his home town of Sirte, the former leader was reported dead by the Libya’s National Transitional Council
Main image: Muammar Gaddafi attends a ceremony marking the birth of Islam’s Prophet Mohammed in Tripoli Photograph: Ismail Zitouny/Reuters
Thu 20 Oct 2011 09.00 EDT First published on Thu 20 Oct 2011 09.00 EDT
1971: A young Muammar Gaddafi in army fatigues
Photograph: Terence Spencer/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
July 1973: Gaddafi waves to demonstrators gathered in Benghazi to show support for his return to office after he resigned as leader of the Revolutionary Command Council. The council refused to accept his resignationPhotograph: Geneviève Chauvel/Sygma/Corbis Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
August 1973: Gaddafi prays in the Libyan desert near SirtePhotograph: Geneviève Chauvel/Sygma/Corbis Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
November 1973: Gaddafi is jostled by press and TV reporters outside the Élysée palace in Paris after talks with President Georges PompidouPhotograph: Agence France Presse/Getty Images Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
November 1978: Gaddafi arrives at the 1978 Arab summit in Baghdad for Arab countries opposed to Egyptian president Anwar Sadat's decision to sign the Camp David agreement with Israel. The summit resulted in Egypt's suspension from the Arab League
August 1981: Gaddafi attends a graduation at the women's military academy in Tripoli. The academy opened in 1979 during Gaddafi's push to include women in Libya's armed forcesPhotograph: Christine Spengler/Sygma/Corbis Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
1986: Posters of Gaddafi and Uncle Sam on a wall in Libya. The US accused Libya of masterminding a bombing in west Berlin in 1985. Tensions culminated in a US air and sea bombing raid on Libya in March 1986Photograph: Shepard Sherbell/Corbis Saba Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
September 1987: Gaddafi appears at a parade in Tripoli to commemorate the 18th anniversary of the Libyan revolutionPhotograph: Bernard Bisson/Sygma/Corbis Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
September 1987: Gaddafi speaking in Tripoli at a parade to commemorate the 18th anniversary of the Libyan revolutionPhotograph: Bernard Bisson/Sygma/Corbis Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
December 1988: The nose section of Pan Am flight 103 lies in a field outside the village of Lockerbie in Scotland
February 2001: Gaddafi with Lamen Khalifa Fhimah, who was tried at a special Scottish court in the Netherlands with Abdelbaset al-Megrahi on murder charges relating to the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie. Al-Megrahi was sentenced to life in jail, while Fhimah was acquitted
March 2004: Gaddafi with Tony Blair. The prime minister's visit to Libya followed Gaddafi's agreement to dismantle Libya's arms programme, accept responsibility for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing and for the 1984 murder in London of WPC Yvonne FletcherPhotograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
June 2009: Gaddafi with Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi at Ciampino airport in RomePhotograph: Alessandro Bianchi/Reuters/Corbis Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
June 2009: Gaddafi waves to photographers as he signs autographs after giving a speech in Rome to women from the business, political and cultural sectorsPhotograph: Christophe Simon/AFP/Getty Images Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
July 2009: Gaddafi gives a thumbs up before a roundtable session at the G8 summit in L'Aquila, Italy
September 2009: Gaddafi arrives for a parade in Tripoli's Green Square to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the military coup that brought him to power
