A bloodied Moammar Gadhafi was seen alive and walking as he was being manhandled by Libya's new regime fighters before the announcement of his death Thursday, in a videotape aired on Arab satellite channels.

National Transitional Council fighters circled the 69-year-old ousted strongman, who was bloodied in the head, face and shoulders, as he apparently tried to cry out.

Here are the key dates in Libya's history over the past 100 years, after the announcement of the death of deposed strongman Moammar Gadhafi on Thursday:

- 1911-1912: Italy conquers Libya, which had been under domination of the Ottoman Empire since 1551.

News that Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi was killed in his hometown Sirte on Thursday sparked scenes of wild joy among the ranks of new regime fighters who had crushed his final bastion of support.

"We did it! We did it!" chanted the fighters overcome with emotion, exchanging well-wishes, hugs and handshakes against a backdrop of intense celebratory gunfire.

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri noted on Thursday that the death of former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi marked the end of a dark period in the Libyan people’s lives and the beginning of a new phase of freedom and democracy.

He said in a statement: “Gadhafi’s fate is the inevitable end of all dictators who reject their people’s will for freedom and democracy.”

Mutassim Gadhafi, one of the ousted Libyan strongman's sons, was found dead in Sirte on Thursday, a commander of the new regime forces told Agence France Presse.

"We found him dead. We put his body and that of (former defense minister) Abu Bakr Younis in an ambulance to take them to Misrata," said Mohammed Leith, who had earlier confirmed that Moammar Gadhafi had been captured in his hometown and subsequently died of his wounds.

World leaders greeted the death of former Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi Thursday as the end of despotism, tyranny, dictatorship and ultimately war in the north African country.

As Libyans on the streets of Tripoli and Sirte fired automatic weapons into the air and danced for joy, the death of the man who had ruled the oil-rich north African nation for 42 years was widely welcomed.

Syria's largest opposition group threatened on Wednesday to seek outside help to stop the regime's "irresponsible" deadly crackdown against pro-democracy protesters.

Speaking in the Libyan capital, Syrian National Council member Najib Ghadbian also told reporters that a peaceful revolution could bring down the regime of embattled President Bashar al-Assad.

Algeria should cooperate with the new regime in Libya over members of the Gadhafi family who took refuge there, British Foreign Secretary William Hague told reporters Wednesday.

The fugitive leader's daughter Aisha fled to Algeria late in August with her brother Hannibal, their mother Safiya -- Gadhafi’s second wife -- and his eldest son Mohammed. Aisha has since given birth to a baby girl.

Anti-Gadhafi fighters launched a fresh assault on Wednesday against the ousted strongman's remaining holdouts, now pinned into a small corner of his hometown Sirte, an Agence France Presse correspondent said.

The fighting was concentrated in the outer streets of Sirte's Number Two neighborhood, with both sides trading heavy gunfire and bombarding each other with mortar shells.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton flew in to Tripoli on Tuesday as Libya's new rulers try to crush the last pockets of resistance by fighters loyal to ousted leader Moammar Gadhafi.

The first U.S. cabinet official to visit Libya since 2008 when Washington wanted to forge a new relationship with Gadhafi, Clinton is seeking to bolster ties with the new rulers and promote Libya's transition to democracy.