TRIPOLI: Forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi said Tuesday they will soon move against the rebel bastion of Benghazi in the east, state television quoted a statement from the army as saying. Addressing residents of the country's second city, the statement said: “The armed forces are arriving to ensure your security, undo the injustice done to you, protect you, restore calm and bring life back to normal.” “This is a humanitarian operation being undertaken in your interests, and is not aimed at taking revenge against anyone,” it added. Benghazi, some 1,000 km east of the capital Tripoli, has been the stronghold of the rebellion against Gaddafi that erupted a month ago. Earlier, forces assaulting the key rebel-held town of Ajdabiya cut the road to Benghazi as hopes of foreign air protection for the revolt faded but were still on the table. Shelling and airstrikes pounded Ajdabiya, the last main town before Benghazi causing some casualties. One airstrike hit a four-story apartment block, wounding six members of one family, a relative said. Libyan television claimed that “the city of Ajdabiya is totally controlled and is being cleansed of armed gangs” while mobile phone messages sent from Tripoli said, “Soon Ajdabiya will be as safe and calm as it was.” A drive by France and Britain to impose a no-fly zone over Libya failed to win round the United States, Russia and other European Union members in the G8 bloc, but London and Paris were pushing the idea at the Security Council. New US sanctions The United States has slapped additional sanctions on Libya's government, banning business with its foreign minister and 16 companies it owns or controls. The Treasury Department said it was freezing any assets linked to Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa to isolate Gaddafi loyalists. The blacklisted companies are from banking, oil, aviation and investment sectors.
