Libya's fallen leader Muammar Gadhafi's son Mutassim was killed on Thursday in Sirte, several hours after his father died of wounds suffered in a gun battle in the city, a commander of the Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) confirmed to Xinhua.

The commander, Momhemed Buras Ali Al-Maknee, who was battling Gadhafi's loyalists in Sirte, said earlier that Mutassim was captured alive inside the city of Sirte after NTC fighters overran the city's number two neighborhood where Gadhafi's loyalists had been cornered.

The circumstances of Mutassim's death could not be immediately verified.

The commander also said that NTC fighters have encircled a place in Sirte where Gadhafi's second son Saif al-Islam was believed to be hiding.?