German flag carrier Lufthansa said today it was suspending regular flights to Tripoli until at least Monday owing to unrest in the Libyan capital.

"We have decided to suspend flights to Tripoli through Sunday, we will advise further on Monday depending on how the situation evolves," a spokesman told AFP.

Lufthansa normally flies to Tripoli once a day from its hub in Frankfurt, but has brought "between 600 and 700 people" back to Germany in the past week using larger planes than usual, the spokesman said.

"We think we have covered the needs of all Lufthansa passengers that wanted to leave the country for now," he added.

Yesterday, Lufthansa's subsidiary Austrian Airlines suspended its six weekly flights to the Libyan capital, as foreigners spoke of hellish scenes as they fled chaos there.

Thousands of foreigners reportedly packed Tripoli's airport hoping to escape the widening crisis, and food and water supplies were said to be running low.

Several foreign governments have sent planes and ships in a bid to rescue their citizens from the mounting lawlessness as Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi pursues a ruthless bid to cling to power.

Earlier in the day, Italian carrier Alitalia announced that it would also suspend flights to the country.

Residents of Libya's dissident-held east, frenzied by a deadly crackdown by Gaddafi's crumbling regime, have vowed to march on the capital as a string of towns famous for World War II battlegrounds fell under their control.

In Kiev, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the military alliance has no plans to intervene in the unrest and has received no request to do so.