The National Transition Council said Moammar Gadhafi is dead following a battle in Sirte, which finally fell to the rebels today after weeks of tough fighting.

Gadhafi, 69, had been on the run for several weeks after being chased out of the capital Tripoli, the capital of Libya, by NATO bombers and rebel troops.

He had been believed to be hiding in the vast Libyan desert while calling on his supporters to rise up and sweep the rebel “dogs” away, but to no avail.

NATO said its fighters struck a convoy of Gadhafi’s loyalists fleeing Sirte, but could not confirm Gadhafi was in the convoy, the Associated Press reported.