Libya's foreign minister in Britain

 Dealing a major blow to the embattled Moammar Qadhafi regime in Libya, its Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa has fled to Britain, reports said.

Britain's Foreign Office confirmed the defection and said in a exercise bike statement that Koussa had arrived at Farnborough Airport in southern England, on a flight from Tunisia on Wednesday.

"He traveled here under his own free will. He has told us that he is resigning his post. We are discussing this with him and we will release further details in due course. We encourage those around Gaddafi to abandon him and embrace a better future for Libya that allows political transition and real reform that meets the aspirations of the Libyan people," it said.

According to the Foreign Office, Koussa is "no longer willing" to work for the Qadhafi regime.

"Koussa is one of the most senior figures in Gaddafi's government and his role was to represent the regime internationally - something that he is no longer willing to do," a Foreign Office spokesperson said.

Even though Tunisia's TAP news agency reported on Monday that Koussa had left Libya for Tunisia, a Libyan government spokesman denied speculation that Koussa had defected.

Earlier on Wednesday, the British government expelled Libya's military attache and four other diplomats over their alleged involvement in intimidating opposition Libyan opposition groups based in London.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague, told lawmakers that the move was to "underline autoclave our grave concern at the regime's behavior".

"...We have today taken steps to expel five diplomats at the Libyan embassy in London, including the military attache. The government also judged that, were those individuals to remain in Britain, they could pose a threat to our security." he added.