Libya says neighbours 'will respond to foreign attack'

Libya's deputy foreign minister Khaled Kaaim warned today that any foreign intervention would prompt Libya's neighbours to rally behind Muammar Gaddafi, in an interview with BBC radio.

"If there is an attack from outside or a foreign intervention, you will not only see Libyans, you will see people from Algeria, from Tunisia, from Egypt... all of them, they will be part of fighting on the Libyan ground," he said.

Speaking before air strikes hit Libya's rebel stronghold of Benghazi, Kaaim insisted that pro-Gaddafi forces were abiding by a United Nations demand for a ceasefire.

"The ceasefire is real, credible and solid," he said.

France was to host a summit today with the European Union, Arab League and African Union, as well as UN chief Ban Ki-moon, on taking military action in Libya after the UN voted to authorise the use of force to protect civilians.