Witnesses have said that the bodies of Colonel Gaddafi, his son and a former aide had been taken overnight from a cold storage facility in Misrata, where they had been on public display.

An official of the new NTC government revealed that the burial would take place in the “open desert”, but these reports cannot be independently verified.

Colonel Gaddafi’s family had requested the return of the bodies so that they could be buried near the former dictator’s birthplace of Sirte, but NTC said that a secret burial was preferable.

A security guard at the cold storage facility where the bodies were being kept, said, "[Gaddafi] was transferred and the military council of Misrata took him away to an unknown location. I don't know whether they buried him or not."

Gaddafi’s body will be buried in a secret location to avoid his grave becoming a shrine for pro-regime fighters, or a hate target for those who opposed him.

The cause of Colonel Gaddafi’s death is still unknown, with reports varying from him being shot by NTC fighters, to being killed in crossfire, to him being involved in a stand-off with his own bodyguards.

A post-mortem confirmed that he received a bullet to the head, but the NTC leader, Mustafa Abdul Jalil, maintained that an investigation into his death would still go ahead.