Gaddafi's body
Photo: Reuters
Celebrating in Tripoli
Photo: EPA
Former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi will most likely be buried in a secret location, the Saudi Arabia-based Al-Arabiya TV reported on Thursday.
Gaddafi was killed by rebel forces in Sirte on Thursday afternoon, bringing his 42-year brutal tyranny to its end.
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- Libya confirms: Gaddafi is dead
Footage aired by Al-Jazeera television clearly showed that Gaddafi was captured alive. Media reports suggest that he suffered fatal gunshot wounds to the abdomen and head shortly afterwards.
Following the footage's release, the National Transitional Council of Libya announces that it did not issue any order to kill Gaddafi, adding that "he was not killed intentionally."
Libyan Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril said that forensic tests confirmed that the deposed leader died of a bullet wound to the head, shot from a 9mm pistol.
"The forensic doctor could not tell if it came from the revolutionaries or from Gaddafi's forces," Jibril said.
Senior NTC official Abdel Majid Mlegta added that DNA tests were being conducted in order to ascertain Gaddafi's identity beyond any doubt.
Mlegta added that Gadaffi would be buried in Misrata, most likely by Friday, as demanded by Muslim custom.
The NTC wishes to keep Gaddafi's burial site in Misrata a secret in order to prevent it from becoming a pilgrimage site for the old regime's loyalists, who still enjoy significant political clout in the war-torn country.
Gaddafi's capture and subsequent death has prompted Amnesty International to demand that the Libyan rebels and the NTC make the circumstances of his death public.
The London-based rights group said that it was essential to conduct "a full, independent and impartial inquiry to establish the circumstances of Col. Gaddafi's death."
AP and Reuters contributed to this report
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