The United States is not yet ready to recognize Libya's Transitional National Council (TNC) but believes it is "worthy of support," U.S. Ambassador to Libya Gene Cretz said Wednesday.

"We found them to be a credible body," said Cretz, who has been in Washington after his recall from Libya in January following a diplomatic cable leak by whistleblower website Wikileaks.

He added that it was reconfirmed that the TNC was a "serious group."

"Recognition remains a legal and an international obligations issue that we're still studying, and we have not made a definitive determination on that question," he said.

"But that has not stopped us from doing everything that we could to support the TNC and the Libyans," the ambassador said.

"France, Italy and Qatar... have officially recognized it," he said. "And they've done that for their own purposes."

The unrest in the North African country, which began in mid-February, has already claimed thousands of lives, with longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi's troops maintaining their combat capabilities despite massive NATO airstrikes against them.

WASHINGTON, April 28 (RIA Novosti)