Libyan provisional authority officials say the body of late ousted leader Moammar Gadhafi has been buried in an unmarked grave in a secret location.
The officials said Gadhafi, his slain son Mutassim and former defense minister Abu Bakr Younis were buried early Tuesday during the same ceremony.
Gadhafi's body had been on public display since Friday in a commercial refrigerator in the port city of Misrata, where residents lined up to see it.
Meanwhile, a Human Rights Watch official says there are vast stockpiles of unsecured weapons in warehouses near Sirte, where Gadhafi was captured last week.
Peter Bouchaert told VOA the weapons include tank and mortar rounds, precision-guided bombs and surface-to-air missiles. He said Human Rights Watch saw no security at two sites it recently inspected. He said the warehouses are being looted by rebels and “just about anyone who can show up.”
Bouchaert said he is concerned that pro-Gadhafi supporters not happy with the coming changes in Libya's government could use the weapons to start an “Iraq-style” insurgency. He said the tank and mortar shells, in particular, can be used to build roadside bombs.
Separately, Human Rights Watch has asked Libya's new authorities to investigate a possible mass execution of suspected Gadhafi supporters during the battle for Sirte.
The group says it found the bodies of 53 people who appear to have been executed in an area that was controlled by NTC fighters at the apparent time of the deaths about a week earlier.
On Sunday, Libyan doctors performed an autopsy on Gadhafi's body in the city of Misrata and said he died of gunshot wounds to the head and abdomen during last week's takeover of Sirte. Cellphone video shows provisional government fighters taunting and beating a wounded Gadhafi shortly before he died.
Libyan officials said the former leader was shot in a crossfire between his loyalists and provisional government forces. Fighters on the scene have acknowledged beating the ousted leader after his capture.
VOA