UNITED NATIONS: The U.N. Security Council Saturday began an urgent session to consider imposing sanctions to against Libya for violent attacks against anti-government protesters.

The 15-member council was meeting behind closed doors folowing a call by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to take concrete action to protect civilians in Libya where some estimates indicate more than 1,000 people have been killed in less than two weeks.

The sanctions under consideration at Saturday's session include an arms embargo against the Libyan government and a travel ban and asset freeze against Gadhafi, his relatives and key regime members.

The council is also considering whether to refer the violent crackdown in Libya to the International Criminal Court to investigate charging the Gadhafi regime with crimes against humanity.