London, Oct 1 (IANS) Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was killed by a French secret serviceman on orders of then president Nicolas Sarkozy, a media report said.
The secret serviceman is said to have infiltrated a violent mob mutilating the captured Libyan leader last year and shot him in the head, the Daily Mail reported.
The daily quoted Libyan sources as saying that the motive was to stop Gaddafi from being interrogated about his “highly suspicious” links with Sarkozy.
Former British prime minister Tony Blair was also extremely close to Gaddafi, visited him regularly and helped facilitate business deals worth millions of pounds.
Sarkozy, who once welcomed Gaddafi as a “brother leader” during a state visit to Paris, was said to have received millions from the Libyan to fund his election campaign in 2007, the daily said.
Mahmoud Jibril, who served as interim prime minister following Gaddafi’s ouster, told Egyptian TV: “It was a foreign agent who mixed with the revolutionary brigades to kill Gaddafi.”
Diplomatic sources in Tripoli told Italian newspaper Corriere della Serra that a foreign assassin was likely to have been French.
“Since the beginning of NATO support for the revolution, strongly backed by the government of Nicolas Sarkozy, Gaddafi openly threatened to reveal details of his relationship with the former president of France, including the millions of dollars paid to finance his candidacy (in 2007),” said the newspaper.
A Tripoli source said: “Sarkozy had every reason to try to silence the Colonel (Gaddafi) and as quickly as possible.”
Rami El Obeidi, former head of foreign relations for the Libyan transitional council, said he knew Gaddafi had been tracked through his satellite telecommunications system as he talked to Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, the Daily Mail said.
NATO experts were able to trace the communication traffic between the two leaders, and pinpoint Gaddafi to the city of Sirte, where he was killed Oct 20, 2011.
Rebels dragged Gaddafi from a drain where he was hiding and then subjected him to a violent attack which was shot on video.
Sarkozy, who lost the presidential election in May, has continually denied receiving money from Gaddafi.
