Gaddafi’s body “packed in shopping center freezer” (VIDEO) (GRAPHIC)
The body of ousted Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi lies on a mattress in the cold storage room of a vegetable market near a mosque in the outskirts of Misrata on October 21, 2011. Libya’s leaders faced huge pressure to proclaim the country’s liberation and move toward democracy, amid euphoria over the killing of Gaddafi under still murky circumstances.
Former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's corpse has been stored in a shopping center freezer, the AP reports.
Highlights of GlobalPost's round-the-clock coverage of Gaddafi's capture, killing and beyond
"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," the AP states. "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.'"
Reports of Gaddafi's capture and subsequent death circulated early Thursday with conflicting reports, there was an eye-witness account of Gadaffi being shot in the heart and in the chest plus videos showing him alive and beaten after being captured.
GlobalPost: Inside Gaddafi's Libya
GlobalPost's Tracey Shelton obtained exclusive on-the-scene footage of Gaddafi caught by rebel fighters.
Libya's transitional government said Thursday Gaddafi's burial would happen within the 24 hours of his death in observance of Islamic rites, but that is now delayed because the U.N. human rights office opened an investigation into his death.
Officials say they do not currently know what will happen to Gaddafi's body nor where he will be buried, Reuters reports.