Libyan sources, particularly Euronews, have confirmed that Saif al-Islam Gaddafi was killed near his residence in Zintan.
Abdullah Osman, Saif's advisor, confirmed his death without going into details of the incident or the identities of the attackers.
Gaddafi's political team expressed their sincere condolences, noting that the process of returning Saif al-Islam's body has already begun.
According to the Al Hadath channel, close to the Gaddafi family, Saif was killed while he was in his garden. The attackers quickly left the crime scene. Al Jazeera also reported that before the attack, the surveillance systems in the house were turned off.
According to the 444th Combat Brigade, part of the Libyan Ministry of Defense, Saif al-Islam was killed during armed clashes; however, they denied any involvement in this incident.
Saif al-Islam, born in June 1972, was the second son of Muammar Gaddafi. He earned a PhD from the London School of Economics and was considered a reformer of his father's regime.
In 2011, Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown as a result of a popular uprising supported by NATO, after which he was killed during the civil war that followed.
In March 2011, after France officially recognized the Libyan opposition, Saif al-Islam stated in an interview that he expected French President Nicolas Sarkozy to return funds that Libya allegedly invested in his election campaign.
Saif al-Islam was captured by rebels at the end of 2011 while attempting to leave the country and was released in June 2017, since then he had been living in Zintan.
He was found guilty of inciting violence against protesters and was sentenced to death in absentia in 2015. He was also wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity related to the 2011 uprising.
In 2021, Saif al-Islam announced his plans to participate in the presidential elections in Libya, which were supposed to take place that same year but have not yet occurred. In 2023, Abdoulaye Bathily, the UN Special Representative for Libya, confirmed that Gaddafi's son would be able to run for office if he decided to do so.
