Saif al-Islam Gaddafi had been considered the number two in Libya before the 2011 death of his father, Muammar Gaddafi.

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of the longtime former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, has been killed in Libya.

Ahmed Khalifa, an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent in the North African country, said on Tuesday that Gaddafi is believed to have been shot and killed in the western Libyan city of Zintan, where he was based for the past decade.

The 53-year-old’s killing was confirmed by his political adviser, Abdullah Othman, but the exact circumstances of his death remain unclear.

The Libyan authorities have yet to comment publicly.

Gaddafi never had an official position in Libya, but was considered to be his father’s number two from 2000 until 2011, when Muammar Gaddafi was killed by Libyan opposition forces that ended his decades-long rule.