Libya's National Transitional Council, NTC, has buried Tuesday the body of ousted dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

The location of the burial will be kept secret over concerns that any public grave could become a shrine for Gaddafi loyalists or as a target of hatred for those who opposed his regime.

NTC representative Guma Al Gamaty has confirmed the burial to the BBC.

The burial has taken place at down Tuesday, at 5 am. Gaddafi has been buried with his son Mutassim and his former defense minister, Abu Baker Yunis. Islamic prayers were read over the bodies in the presence of few relatives and officials, spokesman Ibrahim Beitalmal is quoted as saying.

NTC announced earlier that Gaddafi is likely to be buried Tuesday, five days after he was killed in Sirte.

Since the end of last week the bodies were displayed at a Misrata meat market, and were available for public viewing from a cold storage unit in recent days. The storage was closed Monday afternoon.

Gaddafi's family had issued a statement calling on the United Nations and Amnesty International to push Libya's new leadership "to hand over the bodies of the martyrs of their tribe so they can be buried according to Islamic rites," a pro-Gaddafi TV station reported, but an agreement between NTC and the relatives was not reached.

Anees al-Sharif, a spokesman for the National Transitional Council's military arm in Tripoli, told CNN on Monday that Gadhafi was likely to be put to rest Tuesday.

The day earlier, Mustafa Abdul Jalil -- the chairman of the same council, which is now leading Libya -- said a group had been established to deal with how to handle the ex-leader's body.

NTC and the United Nations have called for an independent investigation into the death of the man who ruled Libya for 42 years. Human Rights Watch, in a statement issued Monday, described his and Mutassim's deaths as "still unexplained."

Mahmoud Jibril, Libya's interim prime minister, has said Gaddafi's right arm was wounded when a gunbattle erupted between the anti- and pro-Gaddafi fighters as his captors attempted to load him into a vehicle.