AJDABIYA, Libya — He once lived under the Taliban‘s protection, met with Osama bin Laden and helped found a group the U.S. has listed as a terrorist organization.

On Friday, Abdul Monem Muktar Mohammed died in a secondhand U.S. military uniform, ambushed by Moammar Gadhafi‘s men as he cleared a road after an airstrike by his new NATO allies.

Aides say the Libyan rebel fighter was leading a convoy of 200 cars west of Ajdabiya, a strategic and hotly contested city, when a bullet struck him in the chest.