Dubai: The burial of ousted Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has been delayed until the circumstances of his death can be investigated and a decision is made on the site to bury him, Libyan officials said on Friday.
Gaddafi's blood-splattered body has been kept in a freezer at a shopping centre in Misrata as Libyans try to keep it away from crowds.
The body has been placed on a bloodied mattress on the floor of a room-sized freezer where restaurants and stores in the centre store perishables.
The UN human rights office has called for an investigation into his death as two cellphone videos on the dictator's final moments emerged.
"More details are needed to ascertain whether he was killed in some form of fighting or was executed after his capture," said Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, calling the images of Gaddafi's last moments very disturbing.
Fatal wound
His burial had been planned for yesterday, in accordance with Islamic traditions calling for quick interment. But the interim government delayed it, saying the circumstances of his death still had to be determined.
Meanwhile a doctor who examined the body said Gaddafi was fatally wounded by a bullet in his intestines following his capture.
"Gaddafi was arrested while he was alive, but he was killed later. There was a bullet and that was the primary reason for his death. It penetrated his gut," doctor Ebrahim Tika told Al Arabiya television. "Then there was another bullet in the head that went in and out of his head."
Jerky footage showed a man with Gaddafi's distinctive long, curly hair, bloodied and staggering under blows from armed men. To the shouts of someone saying "Keep him alive", he disappears from view and gunshots ring out. "While he was being taken away, they beat him and then they killed him," a senior source in the NTC told Reuters.
Tika, who also examined Gaddafi's son Mutassim, said his findings indicated he had died after his father.
There were conflicting reports about Gaddafi's other son Saif Al Islam. Justice Minister Mohammad Al Alagi said Saif was wounded and being held in a hospital in the city of Zlitan. But Information Minister Mahmoud Shammam that the son's whereabouts were uncertain.
Meanwhile, the liberation of Libya will be declared on Saturday in the city of Benghazi, reports said.
