Spain's Economy Ministry says it has taken temporary control of Libya's Aresbank in line with recent European Union measures against Moammar Gadhafi's regime.

Spain's Economy Ministry says it has taken temporary control of Libya's Aresbank in line with recent European Union measures against Moammar Gadhafi's regime.

The ministry says Aresbank is owned by the Libyan Foreign Bank (Forebank) and specializes in trade between Spain and Arab countries.

A ministry spokesman said Thursday the bank will continue to operate as normal but the Libyan government will not have control over its assets. He spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with ministry rules.

The bank says that at the end of 2009 it had total assets of euro900 million ($1.26 billion).

The ministry said Spain has also frozen several Libyan bank accounts in line with EU measures but could not give details. It also seized a portion of land owned by a Libyan bank.