Libya's interim leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil on Wednesday urged NATO to continue its Libya campaign until at least the end of 2011, at a conference of the North African nation's military allies in Doha.

"We hope (NATO) will continue its campaign until at least the end of this year to serve us and neighboring countries," Abdel Jalil, head of Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC), told the conference.

Former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi’s son and onetime heir apparent Seif al-Islam was on Tuesday poised to cross into Niger along with his father's ex-intelligence chief, a Tuareg official said.

The two are the top most wanted fugitives from the slain despot's ousted circle, who are wanted by the International Criminal Court and had been widely expected to seek refuge in Niger following Gadhafi’s death last week.

NATO reacted cautiously Tuesday to a request from Libya's new regime to maintain air operations a month longer than planned as the alliance indicated that consultations were still ongoing.

"NATO said it would closely consult with the U.N. and the NTC (National Transitional Council) before making a final decision," a NATO official said on condition of anonymity.

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday urged the Libyan people to work together to prevent Western powers from taking control of their country and plundering its wealth.

"Their first objective is to take control of Libya and (then) attempt to impose non-revolutionary and non-popular rulers on its people," he said in a speech broadcast live on state television from South Khorasan province.

A Misrata military council official said Moammar Gadhafi, his son Muatassim and a top aide were buried at dawn Tuesday in a secret location, with a few relatives and officials in attendance.

In a text message shown to The Associated Press, spokesman Ibrahim Beitalmal said Islamic prayers were read over the bodies. The information could not be independently verified.

Iran's foreign minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, has sent a message to the new leaders of Libya hailing "the total liberation of the country," the Mehr news agency reported Tuesday.

Salehi said he hoped the Libyan people would exercise their sovereignty by "installing a regime based on religious democracy while preserving the independence and stability of the country with no influence or interference by foreign forces."

A fuel tank exploded in Moammar Gadhafi's hometown Sirte killing more than 100 people less than a week after the deposed despot was captured and killed there, a military commander said on Tuesday.

"There was an enormous explosion and a huge fire. More than 100 people were killed and 50 others wounded" in Monday night's blast, National Transitional Council commander Leith Mohammed told Agence France Presse.

Interim leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil on Monday set a two-week target for Libya to have a new government and said a commission of inquiry is being formed to probe Moammar Gadhafi’s killing.

"We have begun talks (on forming a government), and this matter will not take a month but will be finished within two weeks," the National Transitional Council (NTC) chairman told a media conference in the eastern city of Benghazi.

The discovery of 53 decaying bodies in Sirte, final bastion of Libya's ousted dictator Moammar Gadhafi, suggests some of his loyalists were executed, a rights group said.

"We found 53 decomposing bodies, apparently Gadhafi supporters, at an abandoned hotel in Sirte," said Peter Bouckaert of Human Rights Watch (HRW), who investigated the killings.

Libya's new leaders on Sunday declared the country "liberated", three days after ousted despot Moammar Gadhafi was captured and killed, paving the way for the formation of an interim government.

The long-awaited declaration came amid raging controversy over the circumstances of Gadhafi’s death after he was taken alive during the fall of his hometown Sirte. Britain said the incident had "stained" the National Transitional Council (NTC).