Tripoli, February 28: A British Royal Air Force C-130 in Malta Tens of thousands of foreigners have fled Libya since the unrest began
Three RAF Hercules aircraft have rescued a further 150 people – including 20 Britons – from the Libyan desert, the defence secretary has said.
The first and second aircraft have landed in Malta and the third is due to arrive shortly, said Liam Fox.
One plane suffered minor damage after coming under small-arms fire, the Ministry of Defence has since revealed.
David Cameron said he was “delighted” at the rescue and called on Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi to “go now”.
The prime minister paid tribute to the armed forces’ bravery in carrying out an operation “that was not without its difficulties.”
The Ministry of Defence said: “We can confirm that during the operation to recover civilians from the Libyan desert, one of our C130 aircraft appears to have suffered minor damage consistent with small arms fire.
“There were no injuries to passengers or crew and the aircraft returned safely to Malta.”
Meanwhile, the Royal Navy frigate HMS Cumberland has left Benghazi for Malta carrying about 200 civilians, including 50 Britons.
The Foreign Office believes the bulk of British nationals who want to leave are now out of Libya, said BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner.
Two RAF Hercules flew 150 oil workers, many of them British nationals, to the safety of Malta on Saturday.
One flight carrying some of the rescued workers – 79 of whom are British – arrived at Gatwick on Sunday, followed by a second, carrying 25 Britons, early on Monday morning.
It is not unprecedented for the assets of a ruling family to be frozen by UK authorities while they are still in power. The ruling junta in Burma, Saddam Hussein and President Milosevic of Serbia have all endured (or continue to endure) that in the past.
What is interesting is the co-ordinated way in which the Treasury, BIS and FCO have been working on this order behind the scenes for a few days – directly liaising with Britain’s largest banks as well as the FSA, BBA and Bank of England.
As soon as all Britons had been extracted out of Libya and the legal permission had been given by the UN, the asset freezing order took effect tonight.
While is it unclear exactly how much Libyan assets in the UK are worth, we can safely say it’s in the “hundreds of millions”.
Some reports have said that Col Gaddafi’s son Saif owns a plush house in Hampstead, north London, but most of the assets are probably of the paper variety.
More details about routes out of Libya are on the Foreign Office website and all options to depart Libya will also be updated on the Foreign Office on Twitter.
The FCO is also urging those who have already left Libya to contact them on 0207 008 0000 to ensure they have been accounted for.
About 100,000 people have fled anti-government unrest in Libya over the past week, the UN estimates.
As the Libyan leader, Col Muammar Gaddafi, battles for political survival amid an uprising that began in the east of the country, the UK’s foreign secretary said it was time for him to step down.
The UK has frozen his British-held assets and those of his family, and withdrawn their diplomatic immunity on British soil.
It followed UN Security Council sanctions agreed on Saturday backing an arms embargo and asset freeze, and referring Col Gaddafi to the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity.
Business Secretary Vince Cable has also banned the unlicensed export of any uncirculated Libyan banknotes.
It came after the Libyan regime had asked to ship an estimated £900m worth of British-printed banknotes to Tripoli.
The Foreign Office has closed the British embassy in Tripoli, leaving a skeleton staff working in a different building.
——–Agencies