Gadhafi Buried at Secret Desert Site

Libyan dictator is buried at dawn with son Mutassim
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 25, 2011 5:27 AM CDT
Updated Oct 25, 2011 7:50 AM CDT
Gadhafi Buried at Dawn
Libyan revolutionary fighters returning from Sirte are welcomed at Al Guwarsha gate in Benghazi.   (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

Moammar Gadhafi's final journey was from a meat locker in Misrata to a grave in a secret desert location. A National Transitional Council spokesman says the bodies of the dictator, his son Mutassim, and his former defense minister "were buried at dawn in a secret place with proper respects paid," Reuters reports. NTC officials say they had been in talks with Gadhafi's tribal kinsmen about returning the bodies, but their hand was forced by the decay of the former dictator's body, which was viewed by thousands.

A military official says three religious leaders loyal to Gadhafi prayed over the bodies before burial, and swore on the Koran never to reveal the dictator's resting place. Gadhafi son Seif, meanwhile, is reportedly in or near Niger, where other loyalists have taken refuge, reports AP. And in Sirte, where loyalists made their last stand, a fuel tank exploded last night, killing dozens of people, the Telegraph reports. Elsewhere in the city, investigators from Human Rights Watch discovered the bodies of 53 Gadhafi supporters who had apparently been executed. (More Libya stories.)

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