The bodies of ex-Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, his son Mutassim and a top aide have been buried in secret in the desert, Libyan officials say.

利比亚官员称，前领导人卡扎菲及他儿子穆塔西姆和一位高级助手的尸体被秘密埋在一处沙漠之中。

A National Transitional Council (NTC) official told the BBC the bodies were buried at dawn in an unknown location.

This follows days of apparent uncertainty¹ among the new leadership about what to do with the bodies.

Gaddafi's family wanted them buried outside the former leader's hometown of Sirte.

NTC leaders had expressed a preference（偏爱，倾向） for a secret burial.

Late on Tuesday, Dubai-based TV channel al-A'an broadcast footage it said showed Gaddafi's funeral.

The footage, which was filmed at night, shows a group of men dressed in civilian² clothes walking around three wooden coffins³.

A man is seen tucking in the traditional white cloth used to wrap bodies according to Islamic burial custom.

The pictures have not been independently verified.

Bound by Fatwa

Officials have given few details of the ceremony.

They say it took place early on Tuesday. A few relatives and officials were in attendance and Islamic prayers were read.

Libya's Minister for Information Mahmoud Shammam said the NTC was following a fatwa, or religious ruling.

"It says that his body should not be buried in Muslim cemeteries⁴ and should not be buried in a known place to avoid any sedition⁵（暴动） ," Mr Shammam said.

An NTC official had earlier told Reuters news agency that Col Gaddafi would be buried in a "simple" ceremony with "sheikhs attending" on Tuesday.

"It will be an unknown location in the open desert," he said, adding that a burial was needed because decomposition⁶（分解，腐烂） of the body had reached the point where the "corpse⁷ cannot last any longer".

Gaddafi, Mutassim and former Defence Minister Abu Bakr Younis Jabr were killed on Thursday following the fall of Sirte, the last major pro-Gaddafi bastion.

Witnesses said the bodies had been removed late on Monday from the meat storage warehouse⁸ in Misrata where they had been on display.

The BBC was told prayers were said over the bodies before they were driven away.

"Our job is finished," a security guard at the warehouse, Salem al Mohandes, told the Arabic television station al-Jazeera. "[Gaddafi] was transferred and the military council of Misrata took him away to an unknown location."