TALKS on forming a new Libyan government would be completed in two weeks, National Transitional Council leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil said, as the interim government moved to end controversy over dictator Muammar Gaddafi's body and the circumstances of his death.

Mr Abdel Jalil added to the confusion surrounding Gaddafi's death by speculating that he may have been killed by regime loyalists at the scene to silence him.

''We have to ask: Who has an interest in Gaddafi not being put on trial?'' he said. ''Those who were assisting him.''

In Misrata - where Gaddafi's remains and those of his son, Mutassim, and former army chief Abu Bakr Yunis were put on public display in a refrigerated meat locker - officials ended the spectacle as the corpses rapidly decomposed.

''That's enough,'' said one of the guards. ''He's been causing us as much trouble dead as he did alive.''

Mr Abdel Jalil said the transitional council has established a committee to determine what to do with the remains and will follow a religious ruling, or fatwa.

Later, a Misrata military council official said Gaddafi, Muatassim and a top aide had been buried at a secret location.

In a text message read to The Associated Press, spokesman Ibrahim Beitalmal was quoted as saying the burial took place at 5am local time yesterday.

The information could not be independently verified.

At the weekend, another of Gaddafi's sons, Saif al-Islam, vowed from an undisclosed location to avenge his father.

''We continue our resistance,'' he said in an audio message broadcast by al-Rai, a Syrian television station.

''I say go to hell, you rats, and NATO behind you. This is our country; we live in it, and we die in it and we are continuing the struggle.''

BLOOMBERG, AGENCIES