'I killed Gaddafi', claims Libyan rebel as most graphic video yet of dictator being beaten emerges

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

'Killer' brandishes bloodied shirt and ring purportedly taken from Gaddafi



New footage shows dictator being beaten in the moments after his capture

Graphic footage from Freedom Group TV, a Libyan 'citizen journalist' outfit



Videos emerge after new Libyan leader says he wanted Gaddafi taken alive

Libyans spend a fourth day filing past tyrant's battered body



NTC form committee to investigate killing after pressure from allies

Human rights groups claim to have found 53 loyalists in mass grave



Hero or villain? A leaked video shows this young NTC fighter claiming he was the man who killed the former Libyan leader - because he couldn't bear to take him alive

A Libyan revolutionary fighter has bragged in a leaked video that he was the man who killed Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, that country's despotic former ruler.

The young man, who is pictured but has not yet been identified, said he killed the fallen dictator because he could not bear the thought of taking him alive.

'We grabbed him,' the fighter says in the video. 'I hit him in the face. Some fighters wanted to take him away and that's when I shot him, twice: in the face and in the chest.'

To prove the video's authenticity, the fighter then flaunts what appears to be Gaddafi's bloodstained shirt, before brandishing a gold ring he says he took from the despot's lifeless finger.

The sensational claims come as the clearest and most graphic video yet of Gaddafi being savagely beaten in the wake of his capture has emerged online.

The video shows the bloodied dictator after he has been hauled from his hiding place in Sirte, his hometown, being kicked and punched by his captors.

To shouts of 'Allahu akbar', and with the sounds of assault rifle fire in the background, the men manhandle the profusely bleeding Gaddafi across a patch of wasteland and into a waiting truck.



The evidence: Men hold up a bloodstained smock, purportedly the one Colonel Gaddafi was wearing when he was discovered, beaten and shot dead

Souvenir: The unnamed fighter shows the camera a gold ring, which he says he took off Gaddafi when he killed him

In frenzied scenes, rebel fighters rain blows down on to the former Libyan leader, pulling him by his hair and kicking dust up into his face.

The injured Gaddafi seems to remain silent throughout, despite enduring a string of crunching blows to his face and head.

Got him! NTC fighters race to the scene as it emerges they have got their hands on the revolution's most wanted man

Fallen dictator: Gaddafi is manhandled by fighters loyal to the NTC in the moments after his capture in Sirte

Bloodied: The former dictator is subjected to a sustained and frenzied assault by his captors, with a string of crunching blows to his face and head

At the beginning of this second film there is a digitally animated ident proclaiming it to be the work of Freedom Group TV.

According to the group's Facebook page, they are a 'group of citizen journalists [whose] mission is to let the world know what is happening in Libya.'

There is no indication on their Facebook page or website as to who may be behind the group or funding their work.

Savage: Gaddafi is seen on the receiving end of countless crunching blows

Humiliated: No mercy is shown to the fallen despot

'TREND OF KILLINGS' SWEEP LIBYA

A human rights groups says it has discovered 53 decomposing bodies, apparently of Moammar Gaddafi loyalists, some of whom may have been executed by revolutionary forces. The New York-based Human Rights Watch said today that the discovery in Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte 'seems part of a trend of killings, looting and other abuses committed by anti-Gaddafi fighters who consider themselves above the law.' The group urged Libyan authorities to rein in armed groups. The latest discovery of the grave came to light as Libya's new leaders declared the country liberated, following a brutal eight-month civil war.

The declaration was overshadowed by continued questions about whether Gaddafi was executed after capture last week. The U.S. and Britain have called for an investigation.

The two videos have emerged the day after Libya's new leader, prime minister Mahmoud Jibril, said he wished the hated despot was still alive to stand trial.

The apparent summary execution of Colonel Gaddafi last week has already stained the reputation of the new Libya, with international allies of the National Transitional Council (NTC) urging the new government to investigate.

Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said the reputation of the NTC had been 'a little bit stained' by the way the dictator died at the hands of his captors.

A series of graphic clips, some taken on mobile phones, have been broadcast around the world from the scene showing a wounded and bleeding Gaddafi being manhandled by fighters loyal to the NTC before being shot dead.

The images appear to dispel claims made by Libya's new government that the former leader was killed by crossfire on the way to hospital.

Instead, they point to a frenzied execution surrounded by jeering rebels. Yesterday a post-mortem confirmed that he died from a gunshot to the head.

the UN and Amnesty International have demanded an investigation into evidence suggesting the former leader was summarily executed after being captured alive.

Mobile phone footage of Gaddafi's last moments shows the bloodied dictator being taunted with a pistol, before a single shot rings out, followed by silence.

Celebrations: Libyan women in Misrata wave their new national flag as they celebrate following the official declaration of liberation of the entire country yesterday

Omran al-Oweib, the commander of the rebels who captured Gaddafi, admitted things had 'got out of hand' among young soldiers when they tried to bring him in alive.

Libya's transitional leader has ordered an investigation into the death after the U.S. and other international powers pressed for the probe.



Mustafa Abdul-Jalil told a news conference in Benghazi that the NTC have formed a committee to investigate the killing on Thursday, amid conflicting reports of how the dictator who ruled Libya for four decades died.

'We have formed a committee to investigate how Gaddafi was killed during the clashes with his supporters while arresting him,' Jalil said, adding that whoever killed him may have had something to hide.

'All Libyans wanted to prosecute him over what he did to them, from executions to imprisonments, corruption, wasting their money. Those who have an interest in killing him before prosecuting him are those who had an active role with him,' he said.



There is also great concern in the wider international community over the way in which Libyans are continuing to file past Gaddafi's dead body in a meat locker for a fourth day.

Stench: Libyan people cover their faces as they visit the body of their slain former leader inside a storage freezer in Misrata

Rebel factions which ended his 42-year rule appear to be still wrangling over the body, amid wider negotiations on dividing up power.

The killing of the 69-year-old in his hometown of Sirte ended a nervous, two-month hiatus since the motley rebel forces of the National Transitional Council overran the capital Tripoli and ended eight months of war - though Gaddafi's son and heir-apparent Saif al-Islam is still at large.



NTC officials said negotiations were going on with Gaddafi's tribal kinsmen from Sirte and within the interim leadership over where and how to dispose of the bodies - and on what the Misratans might receive in return for co-operation.

Yet few Libyans seem troubled about either how Gaddafi and his entourage were killed or why they are being kept exposed for so long in what seemed a grim parody of the lying in state often reserved for deceased national leaders.

'God made the pharaoh as an example to the others,' said Salem Shaka, who was viewing the bodies on Monday. 'If he had been a good man, we would have buried him.



'But he chose this destiny for himself.'



Another man, who said he had driven 400 km (250 miles) to see the bodies, said: 'I came here to make sure with my own eyes ... All Libyans must see him.'



