Gaddafi being buried in 'secret location' in Libyan desert

His body has been moved from a cold storage room in Misurata to an unknown location, NTC officials have said.

The bodies of his son Mutassim and his former army chief, which lay alongside Colonel Gaddafi's, have been removed from the cold store room of a market centre in Misurata.

An official from Libya's interim government confirmed the bodies have been moved and said they will be buried at a secret location with Muslim clerics present.

Meanwhile, National Transitional Council (NTC) officials have said the dead dictator's son Saif al Islam Gaddafi is in the desert near the borders with Niger and Algeria.

In Misurata, thousands of Libyans queued to see the colonel's decomposing body until two NTC officials ordered an end to the public viewing.

There has been growing unease among the NTC's Western supporters over the grim spectacle, where Col Gaddafi's body was left on a bloodied mattress as decomposition set in.

Soldiers handed out face masks to adults and children as they queued, to help ward off the stench of death and risk of disease.

Two NTC officials confirmed the decision to shut off the area to the public but gave no reason.

"That's enough," said one of the guards.

"He's been causing us as much trouble dead as he did alive."

Further Western discomfort has been voiced over the conflicting accounts of the deaths of the former ruler and his son.

Yesterday, NTC chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil said the interim government had formed a committee to investigate Col Gaddafi's death.

He also indicated that authorities still held to an official line that the dictator may have been killed in "crossfire" with his own men - a view many NTC officials seem ready to discount.

"We have formed a committee to investigate how Gaddafi was killed during the clashes with his supporters while arresting him," Jalil said.

NTC officials said they were trying to arrange a secret resting place to avoid loyalist supporters making it a shrine. But Misurata does not want his body under its soil.

The hundreds of people who have been queuing for a chance to see his body and take photographs saw no reason for a rapid burial in line with Muslim custom.

"We brought our children to see him today because this is a chance to see history," said one man.

"We want to see this arrogant person as a lifeless body. Let all the people see him."

Col Gaddafi was killed on Thursday while trying to flee his hometown of Sirte after being on the run for several months.

Graphic video footage showing him in the moments before his death has raised questions about how he actually died.

Britain, the US and the UN human rights chief have all called for an investigation into his death.

It comes as a human rights group said it has discovered a mass grave of what is believed to be the remains of Gaddafi loyalists.

Human Rights Watch said some of the 53 decomposing bodies found in Sirte may have been shot dead by revolutionary forces.

Meanwhile, thousands celebrated across the country when Libya's new leaders declared the country liberated.

After  Jalil made the declaration on Sunday he said the oil-rich nation is launched on what is meant to be a two-year transition to democracy.

But he also laid out plans with an Islamist tone that has rattled his Western backers, as Islamic sharia law would be the "basic source" of legislation, and that existing laws that contradict the teachings of Islam would be nullified.

France said it will be keeping an eye over Libya's respect for human rights, according to French foreign minister Alain Juppe.

"We will be watchful that the values that we defended alongside the Libyan people are respected: democratic alternation of power, respect for human life, equality of rights between men and women," Juppe said.7

Jalil also outlined several changes to align with Islamic law such as banning banks from paying interest and lifting restrictions on the number of wives Libyan men can take.

The Muslim holy book, the Quran, allows men up to four wives.

Meanwhile, the commander of Nato's operations in Libya said he was surprised the country's former leader was riding in a 175-vehicle loyalist convoy fleeing Sirte as the town fell to NTC fighters.

Nato aircraft had attacked the convoy on October 20 in order to break it up into smaller, "more manageable chunks," according to Lt Gen Charles Bouchard.