PARIS - International forces are seeking to weaken but not to kill Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi by bombarding his strategic sites, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said on Wednesday.

"Our aim is not to kill Gadhafi ... We are targeting military sites in Tripoli" Juppe said on news channel France 24, describing as "collateral damage" the death of one of the ruler's sons in a recent NATO airstrike.

"There is no question of getting bogged down in Libya," he said, adding that he hopes the firing and bombing in Libya will last no longer than a few weeks, a few months at the most.