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The body of Muammar Gadhafi was buried overnight in a secret location after being displayed in public for days, marking an end for the colonel who ruled Libya with an iron fist for four decades.

A Misrata military council member, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said on Tuesday that Gadhafi's remains were buried "overnight in a religious ceremony", along with the corpses of his son Mutassim and ex-defense minister Abu Bakr Yunis Jaber.

The bodies had been put on display in a market freezer on the outskirts of Misrata, 215 kilometers east of Tripoli, with thousands of Libyans lining up since Friday to view and photograph them. According to guards at the entrance to the market, a convoy of four or five military vehicles took the bodies away to an unknown location late on Monday night.

Three religious leaders loyal to the ousted dictator prayed and performed a religious ceremony before the burial, the military council member said.

The two sons of the former defense minister, brought straight from prison, and his father were present to witness the bodies being picked up from the market, the source said. "I saw the burial permit. It stated that Gadhafi had two gunshot wounds, one in the head and one in the chest, and that he bore the scars of previous surgical operations," the source added.

The overnight burials come amid raging controversy over the circumstances of Gadhafi's death after he was taken alive during the fall of his hometown Sirte on last Thursday.

Libya's interim leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil said a commission of inquiry is to probe the strongman's killing after concerns raised by foreign governments and rights group.

"In response to international calls, we have started to put in place a commission tasked with investigating the circumstances of Muammar Gadhafi's death in the clash with his circle as he was being captured," Abdel Jalil said on Monday.

The UN human rights office welcomed the announcement.

Disquiet has grown internationally over how Gadhafi met his end after NTC fighters hauled him out of a culvert where he was hiding following a NATO airstrike.

（中國日報網英語點津 Helen 編輯）

About the broadcaster:

Lee Hannon is Chief Editor at China Daily with 15-years experience in print and broadcast journalism. Born in England, Lee has traveled extensively around the world as a journalist including four years as a senior editor in Los Angeles. He now lives in Beijing and is happy to move to China and join the China Daily team.