Soaked in blood and looking empty eyed into the camera lens - is this the image of Colonel Gaddafi the world will remember?

It is the first photo to emerge which claims to show the fallen dictator moments after he was apparently shot in the legs and lower abdomen.

Gaddafi’s hair looks lank and greasy and his clothes dripping with dark blood in the mobile phone image which has been distributed by Getty and AFP.

He appears to be flanked by numerous people who are also covered in red blood and seem to be dragging him along.

If it is Gaddafi, then data on the screen suggests he was still alive today at 12.23pm Libyan time - 10.23am UK time.

At this stage the source remains unconfirmed. According to reports, a man named Mohammed al-Bibi said that he took the ornate, golden pistol, which Gaddafi had often been photographed holding, after shooting him dead.

A senior National Transitional Council official, Abdel Majid, told Reuters by telephone that Gaddafi has died of wounds suffered during his capture in Sirte.

Reuters reported that he was wounded in both legs as he "tried to flee in a convoy which Nato warplanes attacked."

An NTC spokesman told Sky News that Gaddafi "is dead and his body is being taken to Misratah". He said that Gaddafi was "shot in the legs and in the head".