The most prominent son of late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, was killed during a “direct confrontation” with four unknown gunmen who broke into his home, sources close to the family, his lawyer Khaled el-Zaydi and Libyan media said on Tuesday.The office of Libya’s attorney general on Wednesday said investigators and forensic doctors examined the body of Saif’s and determined that he died from gunshot wounds. The office added that it was working to identify suspects and take the steps needed to bring a criminal case.While Saif is well-known in the north African country, especially for his role in shaping policy before 2011, his public profile had receded in recent years. In 2015, a Libyan court passed a death sentence in absentia on Saif for suppressing peaceful protests during the country’s 2011 revolution that ended his father’s rule. He has also been provisionally charged by the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity, a case his lawyers failed to dismiss.In 2021, Saif registered as a presidential candidate for a December vote that eventually collapsed amid a political deadlock.Saif went from his notorious father’s heir apparent to a decade of captivity and obscurity in a remote hill town before launching a presidential bid that helped derail an attempted election.He shaped policy and mediated high-profile, sensitive diplomatic missions. He led talks on Libya abandoning its weapons of mass destruction and negotiated compensation for the families of those killed in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988.Determined to rid Libya of its pariah status, he engaged with the West and championed himself as a reformer, calling for a constitution and respect for human rights.