Thousands of Libyans gather for the funeral of Gadhafi’s son who was shot and killed this week

BANI WALID, Libya (AP) — Thousands converged in northwestern Libya for the funeral Friday of Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, the son and one-time heir apparent of Libya’s late leader Moammar Gadhafi, who was killed earlier this week when four masked assailants stormed into his home and fatally shot him.

Mourners carried his coffin in the town of Bani Walid, about 145 kilometers (90 miles) southeast of the capital, Tripoli, as well as large photographs of both Seif al-Islam, who was known mostly by his first name, and his father.

The crowd also waved plain green flags, Libya's official flag from 1977 to 2011 under Gadhafi, who ruled the country for more than 40 years before being toppled in a NATO-backed popular uprising in 2011. Gadhafi was killed later that year in his hometown of Sirte as fighting in Libya escalated into a full-blown civil war.

As the funeral procession got underway and the crowds swelled, a small group of supporters took Seif al-Islam's coffin away and later performed the funeral prayers and buried him.

Ali Saleh, a resident of Sirte city, told The Associated Press said that Gadhafi’s son was a “symbol of reconciliation” who was killed in a “horrible crime in the history of mankind.”

Seif al-Islam, 53, was killed on Tuesday inside his home in the town of Zintan, about 135 kilometers (85 miles) southwest of the capital, Tripoli, according to prosecutors.

Authorities said an initial investigation found that he was shot to death but did not provide further details. Seif al-Islam’s political team later released a statement saying “four masked men” had stormed his house and killed him in a “cowardly and treacherous assassination,” after disabling security cameras.

Seif al-Islam was captured by fighters in Zintan late in 2011 while trying to flee to neighboring Niger. The fighters released him in June 2017, after one of Libya’s rival governments granted him amnesty.

“The pain of loss weighs heavily on my heart, and it intensifies because I can’t bid him farewell from within my homeland — a pain that words can’t ease," Seif al-Islam's brother Mohamed Gadhafi, who lives in exile outside Libya though his current whereabouts are unknown, wrote on Facebook on Friday.

"But my solace lies in the fact that the loyal sons of the nation are fulfilling their duty and will give him a farewell befitting his stature,” the brother wrote.

Since the uprising that toppled Gadhafi, Libya plunged into chaos during which the oil-rich North African country split, with rival administrations now in the east and west, backed by various armed groups and foreign governments.

Seif al-Islam was Gadhafi’s second-born son and was seen as the reformist face of the Gadhafi regime — someone with diplomatic outreach who had worked to improve Libya’s relations with Western countries up until the 2011 uprising.

The United Nations imposed sanctions on Seif al-Islam that included a travel ban and an assets freeze for his inflammatory public statements encouraging violence against anti-Gadhafi protesters during the 2011 uprising. The International Criminal Court later charged him with crimes against humanity related to the 2011 uprising.

In July 2021, Seif al-Islam told the New York Times that he was considering returning to Libya's political scene after a decade of absence during which he observed Middle East politics and reportedly reorganized his father’s political supporters.

He condemned the country's new leaders. "There’s no life here. Go to the gas station — there’s no diesel,″ Seif al-Islam told the Times.

In November 2021, he announced his candidacy in the country’s presidential election in a controversial move that was met with outcry from anti-Gadhafi political forces in western and eastern Libya.

The country’s High National Elections Committee disqualified him, but the election wasn’t held over disputes between rival administrations and armed groups.

Associated Press writer Fatma Khaled in Cairo contributed to this report.

Thousands of Libyans crowd to attend the funeral of Seif al-Islam, son of former Libyan Leader Moammar Gadhafi, in Bani Walid city, Libya, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo)

Thousands of Libyans crowd to attend the funeral of Seif al-Islam, son of former Libyan Leader Moammar Gadhafi, as they wave plain green flags, Libya's official flag from 1977 to 2011 under Gadhafi, in Bani Walid, 146 kilometers (91 miles) southeast of the capital, Tripoli, Libya, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Yousef Murad)

Libyans march to attend the funeral of Seif al-Islam, son of then Libyan Leader Moammar Gadhafi, in Bani Walid city, Libya, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Yousef Murad)

Libyans march to attend the funeral of Seif al-Islam, son of former Libyan Leader Moammar Gadhafi, as they hold a poster of his father in Bani Walid city, Libya, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Yousef Murad)

FILE - In this Feb. 25, 2011, file photo, Seif al-Islam Gadhafi speaks to the media at a press conference in a hotel in Tripoli, Libya. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)

Libyans march to attend the funeral of Seif al-Islam, son of former Libyan Leader Moammar Gadhafi, as they hold a poster of his father in Bani Walid city, Libya, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Yousef Murad)

MADRID (AP) — Storm Leonardo continued to batter the Iberian Peninsula on Friday, bringing floods and putting rivers at risk of bursting their banks while thousands of people were evacuated from their homes in Spain and Portugal.

In southern Spain's Andalusia region, some 7,000 people have had to leave their homes due to successive storms.

Among them were around 1,500 people ordered to evacuate the mountain village of Grazalema, where Andalusia's regional leader Juan Manuel Moreno warned that aquifers were "full to the brim with water,” and at risk of collapsing.

“It's raining on already saturated ground. The land is unable to drain," Moreno said. “We urge extreme caution. This is not over.”

Spanish police said Friday they had found a body located 1,000 meters (about 0.6 miles) away from where a woman had disappeared Wednesday after she fell into a river in Malaga province while trying to rescue her dog. Police said they had not yet identified the body, but believed it belonged to the 45 year-old woman.

Another storm front, Marta, was expected to arrive Saturday, with Spain's weather agency AEMET saying it would bring even more rain and heavy winds, including to areas already drenched by Storm Leonardo.

Marta is expected to affect Portugal, too.

Of particular concern was southern Spain's Guadalquivir River, which flows through Córdoba and Seville and eventually into the Atlantic Ocean, and whose water levels have dramatically risen in recent days.

Additional rain Saturday could leave many more homes at risk in Córdoba, local authorities warned.

In Portugal, parts of Alcacer do Sal were submerged after the Sado River overflowed, forcing residents to leave the city located 90 kilometers (about 56 miles) south of Lisbon.

Alerts were issued also for regions near the Tagus River due to rising water levels.

A separate storm in late January left a trail of destruction in Portugal, killing several people, according to Portuguese authorities.

A view of Alcácer do Sal, southern Portugal, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026, after the Sado River overflowed following heavy rains. (AP Photo/Ana Brigida)

Residents looks at a flooded street after the Sado River overflowed following heavy rains in Alcácer do Sal, southern Portugal, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Ana Brigida)

A residents walks along a flooded street after the Sado River overflowed following heavy rains in Alcácer do Sal, southern Portugal, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Ana Brigida)

Residents walk through a flooded street after the Sado River overflowed following heavy rains in Alcácer do Sal, southern Portugal, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Ana Brigida)

Iria Afonso, 76, is carried on a chair by neighbors as she is evacuated from her flooded home after heavy rains caused the Sado River to overflow in Alcácer do Sal, southern Portugal, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Ana Brigida)

The Guadalete River overflows its banks as it passes through Jerez de la Frontera, in southern Andalusia, Spain, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026, as heavy rains across the country cause flooding in the region. (Rocio Ruz/Europa Press via AP)

The Guadalquivir River overflows its banks as it passes through Cordoba, in southern Andalusia, Spain, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026, as heavy rains across the country cause flooding in the region. (Madero Cubero/Europa Press via AP)

View of the flooding in the town of Grazalema on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026, affected by flooding during heavy rains that hit southern Andalusia. (Joaquín Corchero/Europa Press via AP)

View of the flooding in the town of San Martin del Tesorillo on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026, affected by flooding during heavy rains that hit southern Andalusia. (Francisco J. Olmo/Europa Press via AP)