Libyan judicial authorities have initiated a formal investigation into the fatal shooting of Seif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. The Public Prosecutor’s Office confirmed Wednesday that forensic specialists were deployed to Zintan in northwestern Libya, where the incident occurred, to conduct crime scene analysis and gather evidence.
According to official statements, Gaddafi succumbed to gunshot wounds sustained during an attack on his residence. Investigators are actively pursuing leads and seeking witness testimonies to reconstruct the events leading to the killing. Marcel Ceccaldi, legal representative for the deceased, disclosed to AFP that an unidentified four-person commando unit forcibly entered Gaddafi’s home before executing the shooting on Tuesday.
The assassination occurs against the backdrop of Libya’s protracted political fragmentation, dating back to the 2011 NATO-supported uprising that overthrew the Gaddafi regime. The nation remains fractured between rival governing entities: the United Nations-endorsed administration in Tripoli and the eastern-based government supported by military commander Khalifa Haftar. Neither faction has issued official statements regarding the killing.
The sole political response emerged from Moussa al-Kouni, Vice-President of the Presidential Council for the Fezzan region, who denounced the violence through social media platform X. He emphatically rejected political assassinations, the pursuit of objectives through force, and violent methods of political expression.