Amnesty International on Friday urged the new Libyan authorities to carry out a "full, independent and impartial investigation" into how Moammar Gadhafi died.

The group said that if he was deliberately killed in captivity it would constitute a war crime.

Colonel Moammar Gadhafi had a "slightly eerie obsession" with Condoleezza Rice, describing her as his "African Princess," the ex-U.S. secretary of state said in an excerpt from her memoirs published Thursday.

The late Libyan leader met Rice in the oil-rich north African country in September 2008, a historic meeting that signaled the once pariah state's return to the diplomatic table after decades of isolation.

Russia on Friday said a convoy carrying Moammar Gadhafi posed no danger to civilians when attacked by NATO jets and questioned other circumstances of the Libyan strongman's violent death.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov added sternly that Western leaders were premature in celebrating the veteran dictator's death because its circumstances breached basic international law.

A video that went viral on Friday on social networking websites showed a bloodied Moammar Gadhafi begging the new regime fighters for mercy after his capture.

Gadhafi was later declared dead by the National Transitional Council, Libya’s new rulers.

The circumstances surrounding the death of Libya's ousted despot Moammar Gadhafi are unclear and an investigation is needed, the U.N. human rights chief said Friday.

"On the issue of Gadhafi's death yesterday, the circumstances are still unclear," Navi Pillay's spokesman Rupert Colville said.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy called for forgiveness and reconciliation in Libya on Friday, adding that Moammar Gadhafi's death is not a cause for celebration despite his crimes.

Libya has found "its freedom and democratic hope. ... Now it is up to the Libyans to turn the page on the terrible years of Gadhafi and to build this future. The Libyans have a duty of forgiveness, reconciliation and unity," Sarkozy said on the sidelines of a development conference held as part France's chairmanship of the G20.

NATO ambassadors gather at 14:30 GMT on Friday to discuss an end to the alliance's six-month air campaign in Libya following the death of Moammar Gadhafi and the fall of his last bastions, diplomats said.

A NATO official said ambassadors from the 28-member alliance would meet in Brussels "with Libya on the agenda of talks".

Foreign governments from Britain to China hailed a new day for Libya following Moammar Gadhafi's death and called on the new government to move swiftly to rebuild a shattered economy and restore order amid chaotic celebrations.

Amid the overwhelmingly positive response, there were concerns too about further political violence or a veering off into extremism in the wake of Gadhafi's nearly 42-year regime. Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said the international community needed to work with the governing transitional council to ensure Libya "does not become another Iran."

NATO's operation in Libya can be considered over now that Moammar Gadhafi is dead and the new regime is in control of the entire country, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Friday.

"I think we can say that the military operation is finished, that the whole of Libyan territory is under the control of the National Transitional Council and that, subject to a few transitory measures in the week to come, the NATO operation has arrived at its end," Juppe told Europe 1 radio from India.

A Lebanese delegation will head to Libya on Sunday to meet with National Transitional Council officials after the death of ousted leader Moammar Gadhafi, An Nahar newspaper reported.

The delegation will discuss the latest investigations undertaken by the NTC to unveil the fate of missing Imam Moussa al-Sadr, An Nahar said Friday.