Gaddafi opponent's body found after 19 years

Libyan authorities paid tribute to Mansour al-Kikhia, a key opponent of the toppled Gaddafi regime, whose body was found inside a morgue in the capital Tripoli, 19 years after his disappearance.

"The tyrannical (Gaddafi) regime kidnapped the opposition figure Mansour Rashid al-Kikhia, killed him, hid his body and did not bury it, showing that the regime was more afraid of him dead than alive," said the Foreign Ministry in a statement.

Al-Kikhia served as Libya's foreign minister and later as ambassador to the United Nations before defecting and joining the opposition in exile in 1980.

He disappeared in Cairo in 1993 when Gaddafi launched a campaign to kill his opponents living abroad.

Al-Kikhia's body was found in October inside a morgue in a villa that had been used as a military intelligence facility in the Gaddafi era.

Gaddafi himself was captured and killed in his home town Sirte in October last year after an armed revolt that ended his 42-year rule.