2011-02-21 17:20

ANKARA - Turkey sent a relief team and foodstuff to the Libyan city of Benghazi Monday to help Turks living there as unrest swept the country, local media reported.

A plane, which carried a five-member team sent by the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including two doctors and a nurse, and food aid from Turkish relief agency Red Crescent, was scheduled to take off from Istanbul's Ataturk Airport early Monday morning, the semi-official Anatolia news agency said.

Turkey has evacuated 581 of its citizens from Libya and additional flights will be sent to bring back some 3,000 Turks, the foreign ministry was cited as saying.

A crisis desk has been established at the Foreign Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the report.

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's son Seif al-Islam said in a televised address early Monday that 84 protestors were killed in the city of Benghazi during anti-government protests and the country was in danger of civil wars if the clashes between the security forces and protestors escalate.