Libya's interim leader has urged NATO to continue its mission in the country until at least the end of the year.

National Transitional Council head Mustafa Abdel Jalil said Wednesday the move would help prevent remnants of Moammar Gadhafi's loyalists from regrouping and posing a security threat.

He made the appeal in Qatar, at the first international planning conference for Libya since Gadhafi's death last week.

Separately, NATO ambassadors gathered in Brussels on Wednesday to consider ending the alliance's seven-month-old air campaign over Libya. They decided to postpone a formal decision until Friday to allow time for more consultations with Libya's interim leaders.

Last week, NATO announced a preliminary decision to end the mission on October 31st.

Gadhafi was buried Tuesday in a secret desert location. The ousted Libyan leader was shot and killed last Thursday as provisional government forces stormed his hometown of Sirte.

The NTC has been under intense international pressure to investigate the circumstances of Gadhafi's death. Cellphone video has shown provisional government fighters taunting and abusing a wounded Gadhafi shortly before he died.

Libyan officials said the former leader was shot in a crossfire between his loyalists and provisional government forces. Fighters on the scene have acknowledged beating the ousted leader after his capture.

U.S. President Barack Obama commented on Gadhafi's death, Tuesday, during an appearance on a popular U.S. television talk show. Mr. Obama said people generally would not ever want to see anyone “come to the kind of end” that Gadhafi faced. But, he added that Gadhafi's death sent a “strong message” to dictators around the world that “people long to be free.”

Requests for a United Nations probe into the circumstances of Gadhafi's death could be among the items discussed on Wednesday when the U.N. Security Council holds its monthly meeting on the situation in Libya.