Misrata: Muammar Gaddafi`s
blood-streaked body was stashed in a commercial freezer at a
shopping center today as Libyans tried to keep it out of the
public eye and away from crowds as they figure out where and
when to bury the hated leader.
A news agency correspondent saw the body at the shopping center
in the coastal city of Misrata, home of the fighters who
killed the ousted leader a day earlier in his hometown of
Sirte.
The body, stripped to the waist and wearing beige
trousers, was laid on a bloodied mattress on the floor of an
emptied-out room-sized freezer where restaurants and stores in
the center normally keep perishables.
A bullet hole was visible on the left side of his head,
with the bullet still lodged in his head, according to the
presiding doctor, and in the center of his chest and stomach.
His hair was matted and dried blood streaks his arms and head.
Outside the shopping center, hundreds of civilians from
Misrata jostled to get inside for a peek at the body, shouting
"God is great" and "We want to see the dog."
The makeshift provisions for the corpse, at one point it
was kept in a private house yesterday, reflected the
disorganisation and confusion that has surrounded Gaddafi`s
death.
His burial had been planned for today, 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. Information Minister Mahmoud
Shammam also said authorities are "debating right now what the
best place is to bury him."
PTI
