Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi, who was killed when his hometown Sirte fell on Thursday after refusing to surrender, ruled his North African country for 42 years before being ousted in August.

Renowned for his flamboyant dress sense and rambling rhetoric, the embattled Libyan leader, 69, came up against an unprecedented challenge to his rule after anti-regime protests erupted on February 15.

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.

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 has agreed to allow an Arab League delegation to visit Damascus in a bid to defuse the deadly violence there, the 22-member body said in a statement on Thursday.

"We have received approval from the Syrian government to receive a ministerial delegation, headed by Qatar on Wednesday, October 26," Assistant Secretary General Wagih Hanafi said.

The Yemeni opposition called on the United Nations on Thursday to force President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down unconditionally, rejecting his request for international guarantees.

The opposition Common Forum dismissed as a sham Saleh's announcement on Wednesday that he was ready to sign a Gulf-brokered deal for him to quit office in return for a promise of immunity from prosecution if it was backed up by European and U.S. guarantees.

The British embassy in the Gulf state of Kuwait has temporarily suspended services because of an increased threat toward the mission, a statement on the embassy website said Thursday.

"As of 19 October 2011, because of an increased threat toward the British embassy, we have temporarily suspended British embassy services," the statement said.

Turkish air force jets bombed Kurdish rebels camps in northern Iraq overnight in response to the attacks which killed 24 soldiers in the southeast, local security sources said Thursday.

Military activity at the air base in mainly Kurdish Diyarbakir province was very intensive throughout the night with many F-16 jets taking off to bomb the hideouts of the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), they said.

The Palestinians are not ready to resume dialogue with Israel as sought by the Mideast diplomatic Quartet, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said Wednesday.

"Our own assessment is that the conditions are not ripe at this juncture for a meaningful resumption of talks," he said at the annual gala for the American Task Force on Palestine, a pro-Palestinian lobby.

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.