International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrant of Muammar Qaddafi

The International Criminal Court has issued a detained warrant for Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi, blaming him of crimes against civilization.

The court had grounds to consider he had ordered assaults on civilians during Libya's four-month unrest, it said.

The Hague-based court also issued warrants for two of Col Gaddafi's top advisers- his son Saif al-Islam and intelligence chief Abdullah al-Sanussi.

Thousands of people are considered to have been died in the quarrel.

Anti-Gaddafi forces said on Monday they had started a new push towards Tripoli, with serious combating near the strategic town of Bir al-Ghanam, to the south-west of capital.

The insurgent defense minister told that the forces against to Col Gaddafi may also make a shift on the capital from the east.

The ICC arrest warrants pass on to early weeks of the unrest, from 15 February until "at least 28 February".

The statement, read out by presiding judge Sanji Monageng, said there were "rational grounds to consider" that the three men were "illegally responsible" for the murder and harassment of civilians.

As the "documented and undisputed leader of Libya", said the court, Col Gaddafi had "complete, final and unquestioned organize" over the state.

He initiated a state policy "aimed at putting off and quelling by any means, including by the use of force, the protestors of civilians against the rule", the court supposed.

The warrant says that as Saif al-Islam Gaddafi has no authorized position in Libya, he is "the most powerful person" in Col Gaddafi's internal circle.

Mr. Sanussi, said the court, had "ultimately educated the troops to assaults civilians protesting" in Benghazi, the city that has become the revolutionary' stronghold.

"We are too delighted that the entire world has unified in impeaching Gaddafi for the crimes he has stanched" rebel council spokesman Jalal al-Galal told Reuters news agency from the rebel stronghold Benghazi. "The people think justified by such a response."

The warrants had been demanded by chief ICC investigator Luis Moreno-Ocampo in May. He has said Col Gaddafi must be detained in order to secure the civilians.

But the Libyan officials have prior said they do not know the court and are not worried by the threat of a warrant.

On Sunday, government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said the court was overly anxious with chasing African leaders and had "no authenticity at all".

The ICC declaration came as the international air operation in Libya, meant at shielding civilians, enters its 100th day.

It was greeted by Nato Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who said the court's verdict highlighted the growing isolation of the Libyan rule.

"It reinforces the reason for Nato's mission to protect the Libyan people from Gaddafi's forces," said Mr Fogh Rasmussen in Brussels.

UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said the court's decision further demonstrated "why Gaddafi has lost all legitimacy and why he should go immediately".

Mr Hague called on people within the Libyan regime to abandon the leader and said those responsible for "atrocities" must be held to account.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy echoed those sentiments, saying of the Libyan leader: "After 41 years of dictatorship, it is perhaps time to stop, for him to leave power."