10 things you might not know about Libya's Muammar Gaddafi ...

On September 1, Libya's Colonel Muammar Gaddafi will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the bloodless coup in which he overthrew King Idris I. Since 1969, when he took power as a stylish, and, at only 27, very young revolutionary leader, he has supported terrorism, led a pariah state and brutally quelled opposition dissent. 

While there are questions from some quarters over Libya's culpability in the Lockerbie tragedy - back in the headlines because of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi's controversial release from a Scottish jail - there is no doubt that Gaddafi has been responsible for financing many high-profile terrorists. 

Libya was linked with the Black September Movement which carried out the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics, and the bombing of a Berlin disco in 1986 in which three died and many US soldiers were injured. Gaddafi was also reported to have financed Carlos the Jackal, the famous Venezuelan-born revolutionary, and the IRA. More...

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